Biologia (Lahore), Vol.70, Iss. 1, Pages 8-15

Abstract

COVID-19 caused a significant number of infections and deaths since first appearance(Relationship of Anosmia with Nasopharyngeal Swab-based Sample Collection for Covid-19) in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. Anosmia and hyposmia had been viewed as the first signs of COVID-19. However, these could also be triggered by preceding factors in the population or those twisted during pandemic. In this prospective cohort study, respondents were surveyed with a subjective smell test to notice the incidence of smell loss after nasopharyngeal sampling. Olfactory function was evaluated multiple times with a non-specific smell test using the balm (lodex, GSK)(Relationship of Anosmia with Nasopharyngeal Swab-based Sample Collection for Covid-19) and items accessible to respondents at home. Olfactory function was qualitatively categorized based on the difficulty of smelling odor such as normal (normosomia), diminished (hyposmia), and absent (anosmia). Data about manifestation, comorbidities and smell function is carefully assessed before statistical analysis. The study involved 120 individuals, of which 52 (43.3%) were female and 68 (56.6%) were male. The average age of the participants was 37 ± 15 [min 16, max 72, IQR 46.5-26-21.5]. RT-PCR revealed the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in n = 6 (5%), with a mean Ct-value of 30.3 ±2.6. Post- NPS(Relationship of Anosmia with Nasopharyngeal Swab-based Sample Collection for Covid-19) smell loss respondents were n=13(11%) among them n=3(23%) had SAR-COV-2 while n=10(77%) were negative. Through Chi-square (x2) test, p-value was revealed ≤0.05 [df 1] for smell loss in negative respondents compared to positive cases which shows that they might have lost smell due to different factors other than COVID-19 which are briefly discussed.

INTRODUCTION

COVID-19 has severely affected the world since its beginning in Wuhan China, on December 2019 (Wu et al., 2020). Presently, pandemics have swayed 7 million people and caused 770 million infections (WHO, 2023). Several strategies have been developed to manage and (Relationship of Anosmia with Nasopharyngeal Swab-based Sample Collection for Covid-19)diagnose disease such as before or after the presentation of the symptoms and its development over time in patients (Tostmann et al., 2020). COVID-19 cases were categorized based on indications such symptomatic or asymptomatic. The primary objective during the pandemic was to diagnose both types of cases using COVID-19 testing (Guo et al., 2020). In symptomatic, COVID-19 produces several manifestations; for instance, fever, cough, sore throat, chills, dyspnoea, and myalgia are more regularly reported (Chen et al., 2021). In the critical
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scenario, viral tropism into organs resulted in septic shocks, severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and death (Li et al., 2021).
Subsequently, anosmia and hyposmia (smell loss) were considered as markers of COVID- 19(Relationship of Anosmia with Nasopharyngeal Swab-based Sample Collection for Covid-19) because of their appearance before diagnostic testing and other symptoms (Moein et al., 2020). During pandemic, smell loss was reported alone in 5 to 50% cases or with dysgeusia (Hopkins et al., 2020). Smell loss can be caused by multiple factors that regulate or correlate with the olfactory system(Relationship of Anosmia with Nasopharyngeal Swab-based Sample Collection for Covid-19) such as mental and physical health, age, gender or environment(Gögele et al., 2024). In these factors, ageing could be the leading cause of olfactory dysfunction in individuals usually above 60 years (Doty, 2018). Other factors such as environmental, neurodegenerative diseases, and psychiatric and socio-economic issues may also manifest identical conditions (Schwartz et al., 2019). Additionally, we have seen the expansion of COVID-19 and nucleic acid testing RT-PCR using swabs could impact olfactory function (Chau et al., 2020).
RT-PCR is considered a gold standard(Relationship of Anosmia with Nasopharyngeal Swab-based Sample Collection for Covid-19) for SARS-CoV-2 detection which also assists in monitoring disease development and its severity in patients (Quraishi et al., 2023). The specimen for RT-PCR is usually obtained from the oropharynx, septum, saliva, throat, or nasopharynx. These sites give significant viral load to successfully detect SARS-CoV-2. However, the nasopharyngeal specimen has a high viral load at the start of infection therefore it is preferred to collect sample. The nasopharyngeal swab (NPS)(Relationship of Anosmia with Nasopharyngeal Swab-based Sample Collection for Covid-19) technique may cause discomfort and anxiety in individuals after testing (Kim et al., 2022). Additionally, studies have reported smell loss responses before and after the NPS test using subjective response which indicates significance of NPS. Therefore, we aim to investigate the incidence of smell loss in COVID-19- negative cases after nasopharyngeal sampling and evaluate factors which might have impacted olfactory function.