Thread by @DrDenaGrayson

⚠️Doctors warn that #anosmia (loss of sense of smell) and #ageusia (diminished sense of taste) have emerged as peculiar telltale signs of #COVID19 and are possible markers of #coronavirus infection.

In #Wuhan, ENT and eye doctors DIED in large numbers.

nytimes.com/2020/03/22/hea…

U.K. physicians cite reports from other countries indicating that significant numbers of #coronavirus patients experienced #anosmia: in #SouthKorea, 30% of 2,000 patients who tested positive for #COVID19 had anosmia as their major presenting symptom (these were MILD cases).💥

A high rate of transmission of #COVID to ENT doctors has been reported from #China, #Italy and #Iran, many resulting in DEATH.

In the "hot zone" of New Rochelle NY, patients who had first complained of #anosmia later tested positive for the #coronavirus.🧐

In #Italy: “Almost everybody who is hospitalized has this same story. You ask about the patient’s wife or husband. The patient says, ‘My wife has just lost her smell and taste but otherwise she is well.’ So she is likely infected, and she is spreading it with a very mild form.”💥

A German virologist who interviewed >100 #coronavirus patients says that at least 2/3 with mild #COVID19 reported experiencing loss of smell and taste lasting several days.

This could be VERY helpful to identify people with otherwise no/mild symptoms and ISOLATE them.