Smell and taste dysfunction in patients with COVID-19

The plural of an anecdote is not evidence, yet anecdotal international reports are accumulating from ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgeons and other health-care workers on the front lines that anosmia, with or without dysgeusia, are symptoms frequently associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery and the British Association of Otorhinolaryngology are now recommending these symptoms be added to the list of primary screening symptoms for COVID-19.