(Jacqueline Howard and Jack Guy/ CNN) — Doctors in the United States on Sunday called for the loss of sense of smell and taste to be added to the “list of screening tools” for Covid-19.
The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery said symptoms of anosmia, or lack of sense of smell, and dysgeusia, or lack of taste, should be used to identify possible Covid-19 infections.
“Anosmia, in particular, has been seen in patients ultimately testing positive for the coronavirus with no other symptoms,” reads to a statement on the academy’s website.
Those symptoms “warrant serious consideration for self-isolation and testing of these individuals,” continues the statement.
The academy made its announcement after ENT UK, a professional organization representing ear, nose and throat surgeons in the United Kingdom, said in a separate statement on its website on Saturday that anosmia could be another symptom of infection with the novel coronavirus. (…)