Monitoring of cases of anosmia and COVID-19

Dear Editor,

We would like to share ideas on the publication “Monitoring of cases of anosmia may help control the COVID-19 pandemic.¹” Miyake et al. concluded that “The adoption of a unified internet self-reported notification system of new cases of sudden dysosmia ..... this pandemic”.¹ In fact, asymptomatic and atypical clinical presentation is not uncommon in COVID-19 and it is necessary that the practitioner has to recognize for the possibility.²,³ Anosmia is a possible clinical presentation in COVID-19. Screening for anosmia might be difficult but it is useful for early detection of the case.⁴ A reporting tool might be helpful for screening.⁵ Regarding the self-reported notification sys- tem, an important consideration is on the reliability. In a developing country, a low educated people might disguise the clinical history and the reporting system is usually not useful.⁶ A non-subjective screening tool should be consid- ered for anosmia screening.

References

• ¹
  Miyake MM, Anselmo-Lima WT. Monitoring of cases of anosmia may help control the COVID-19 pandemic. Braz J Otorhinolaryngol. 2021;87:377–8.
• ²
  Joob B, Wiwanitkit V. Atypical presentation of COVID-19. Am J Emerg Med. 2021;39:237.
• ³
  Joob S, Ronald M. Asymptomatic COVID-19: an important clinical consideration. Adv Lab Med Int. 2020;10:4–5.
• ⁴
  Karimi-Galougahi M, Raad N, Mikaniki N. Anosmia and the need for COVID-19 screening during the pandemic. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020;163:96–7.
• ⁵
  Kaye R, Chang CWD, Kazahaya K, Brereton J, Denneny JC 3rd. COVID-19 anosmia reporting tool: initial findings. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020;163:132–4.
• ⁶
  Joob B, Wiwanitkit V. Patients with COVID-19 and disguising on travel history: a challenge in disease screening. Int J Prev Med. 2020;11:46.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  29 Sept 2021
• Date of issue
  2021

History

• Received
  13 Apr 2021
• Accepted
  14 Apr 2021