Quebec doctors confirm loss of smell, taste most common symptoms of COVID-19

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Photo: Canadian Press/ Paul Chiasson

(Katelyn Thomas/ CTV News) — Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been theories that the virus could manifest itself in the form of a loss of taste or smell among people who have tested positive.

On Wednesday, Quebec researchers proved the theory to be true. In a study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, they reported that nearly two-thirds of the COVID-19 patients they analyzed experienced a full or partial loss of taste and smell, and what’s more is that among them, these symptoms tended to show up independently of those more commonly associated to the virus.

“In a lot of patients, we saw that loss of smell is not necessarily seen with other symptoms like fever or shortness of breath or coughs,” said Dr. Alex Carignan, a medical microbiologist and infectious diseases consultant in Sherbrooke who directed the study. “A lot of people present mainly with loss of smell and sometimes other symptoms like fatigue or headaches.”

The study – which was a collaboration between the University of Sherbrooke and one of the province’s integrated health and social service centres (Eastern Townships) – suggests for people who have these symptoms to be tested for the virus and tested again if their first results come back negative. (…)

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