Recently published studies provide data on a sudden loss of smell in patients with coronavirus infection. This review discusses the results of a patient survey that confirms the association between COVID-19 infection and anosmia. Anosmia is recognized as one of the most obvious symptoms. The article emphasizes that olfactory dysfunction is detected at an early stage of the disease and precedes its main symptoms. Therefore, the loss of mell can be considered as a marker of the preclinical manifestation of coronavirus infection. The review discusses the mechanisms underlying olfactory dysfunction in the olfactory neuroepithelium and central nervous system. Currently, we face the need for an objective assessment of a large sample of patients infected with COVID-19 at the preclinical stage of the disease. Olfactory dysfunction is diagnosed through standard olfactory tests. The tests allow to obtain quantitative data on the degree of disfunction of the sense of smell. In the absence of medical tests for coronavirus, olfactory sensitivity testing can become a tool for detecting infection at the initial stage of the disease as well as identifying asymptomatic patients for their timely isolation.
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Bigday et al. (2020) studied this question.