🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 84 (from laksa001)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa084.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/health/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/health/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/22\/health\/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html","crawl_time":1773049845,"first_indexed_time":1584916907,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,nytimes!www,\/2020\/03\/22\/health\/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html s443","src_root_hash":"4566504020376537684","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Lost Sense of Smell May Be Peculiar Clue to Coronavirus Infection - The New York Times","meta_descriptions":["Doctor groups are recommending testing and isolation for people who lose their ability to smell and taste, even if they have no other symptoms."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Advertisement\nSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\nDoctor groups are recommending testing and isolation for people who lose their ability to smell and taste, even if they have no other symptoms.\nA girl removed her mask to smell the flowers on a blooming tree in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Friday. Evidence is growing that lost sense of smell and taste are peculiar telltale signs of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.\nCredit...\nOgnen Teofilovski\/Reuters\nPublished March 22, 2020\nUpdated Jan. 2, 2021\nA mother who was infected with the\ncoronavirus\ncouldn’t smell her baby’s full diaper. Cooks who can usually name every spice in a restaurant dish can’t smell curry or garlic, and food tastes bland. Others say they can’t pick up the sweet scent of shampoo or the foul odor of kitty litter.\nAnosmia, the\nloss of sense of smell\n, and ageusia, an accompanying diminished sense of taste, have emerged as peculiar telltale signs of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and possible markers of infection.\nOn Friday, British ear, nose and throat doctors, citing reports from colleagues around the world, called on adults who lose their senses of smell to isolate themselves for seven days, even if they have no other symptoms, to slow the disease’s spread. The published data is limited, but doctors are concerned enough to raise warnings.\n“We really want to raise awareness that this is a sign of infection and that anyone who develops loss of sense of smell should self-isolate,” Prof. Claire Hopkins, president of the British Rhinological Society, wrote in an email. “It could contribute to slowing transmission and save lives.”\nShe and Nirmal Kumar, president of ENT UK, a group representing ear, nose and throat doctors in Britain, issued a joint statement urging health care workers to use personal protective equipment when treating any patients who have lost their senses of smell, and advised against performing nonessential sinus endoscopy procedures on anyone, because the virus replicates in the nose and the throat and an exam can prompt coughs or sneezes that expose the doctor to a high level of virus.\nTwo ear, nose and throat specialists in Britain who have been infected with the coronavirus are in critical condition, Dr. Hopkins said. Earlier reports from Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus first emerged, had warned that ear, nose and throat specialists as well as eye doctors were infected and dying in large numbers, Dr. Hopkins said.\nThe British physicians cited reports from other countries indicating that significant numbers of coronavirus patients experienced anosmia, saying that in South Korea, where testing has been widespread, 30 percent of 2,000 patients who tested positive experienced anosmia as their major presenting symptom (these were mild cases).\nThe\nAmerican Academy of Otolaryngology on Sunday posted information on its website\nsaying that mounting anecdotal evidence indicates that lost or reduced sense of smell and loss of taste are significant symptoms associated with Covid-19, and that they have been seen in patients who ultimately tested positive with no other symptoms.\nThe symptoms, in the absence of allergies or sinusitis, should alert doctors to screen patients for the virus and “warrant serious consideration for self isolation and testing of these individuals,” the academy said. The organization has reminded its members that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\nhas urged all clinicians to prioritize urgent and emergency visits\nfor the next several weeks and to reschedule elective and routine procedures.\n“There is evolving evidence that otolaryngologists are among the highest risk group when performing upper airway surgeries and examinations,” said a notice posted on the academy’s website on Friday. “A high rate of transmission of Covid-19 to otolaryngologists has been reported from China, Italy and Iran, many resulting in death.”\nDr. Rachel Kaye, an assistant professor of otolaryngology at Rutgers, said colleagues in New Rochelle, N.Y., which has been the center of an outbreak, first alerted her to the smell loss associated with the coronavirus, sharing that patients who had first complained of anosmia later tested positive for the coronavirus. “This raised a lot of alarms for me personally,” Dr. Kaye said, because those patients “won’t know to self quarantine.”\n“Most ENTs have on their own accord tried to scale down,” she said, adding that her department at Rutgers had already started using personal protective equipment and stopped performing nonessential exams.\nImage\nPeople shopping in Milan, hard hit by the coronavirus. Doctors in Italy have found that loss of the sense of smell can be a sign of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.\nCredit...\nAlessandro Grassani for The New York Times\nIn the areas of Italy most heavily affected by the virus, doctors say they have concluded that loss of taste and smell is an indication that a person who otherwise seems healthy is in fact carrying the virus and may be spreading it to others.\n“Almost everybody who is hospitalized has this same story,” said Dr. Marco Metra, chief of the cardiology department at the main hospital in Brescia, where 700 of 1,200 inpatients have the coronavirus. “You ask about the patient’s wife or husband. And 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.”\nA study from South Korea, where widespread testing has been done, found that 30 percent of some 2,000 patients who tested positive for the coronavirus reported experiencing anosmia.\nHendrik Streeck, a German virologist from the University of Bonn who went from house to house in the country’s Heinsberg district to interview coronavirus patients, has said in interviews that at least two-thirds of the more than 100 he talked to with mild disease reported experiencing loss of smell and taste lasting several days.\nAnother physician\nwho studied a cluster of coronavirus patients in Germany\nsaid in an email that roughly half of the patients had experienced a smell or taste disorder, and that the sensory loss usually presented after the first symptoms of respiratory illness, but could be used to distinguish people who should be tested.\nDr. Clemens Wendtner, a professor of medicine at the Academic Teaching Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, said that the patients regained their ability to smell after a few days or weeks, and that the loss occurred regardless of how sick they got or whether they were congested. Using nasal drops or sprays did not help, Dr. Wendtner said.\n[\nLike the Science Times page on Facebook.\n| Sign up for the\nScience Times newsletter.\n]\nSeveral American patients who have had symptoms consistent with the coronavirus, but who have not been tested or are still awaiting test results, described losing their senses of smell and taste, even though their noses were clear and they were not congested.\nAndrew Berry, 30, developed a fever and\nbody\naches about 10 days ago, and then a sore throat and debilitating headaches. He tested negative for influenza and has not gotten the result of a coronavirus test taken four days ago, but his physician was convinced that he had the virus, he said.\nNow, Mr. Berry said, he literally cannot smell the coffee.\n“Even with a clear nose, I just realized I couldn’t smell the food that I was cooking, and I couldn’t taste the food that I was making,” said Mr. Berry, a tattoo artist based in Orlando, Fla. He was cooking a plantain dish with onions and vinegar, yet he could not smell it.\nAmy Plattmier, a woman from Brooklyn, was not tested for the coronavirus during a recent illness, but her husband then became sick and had a positive test. Ms. Plattmier said she usually had a very sensitive nose, but now could barely smell anything — not the bleach she was using to clean the counters, which usually makes her feel nauseated, or the dog’s accident in the bathroom, which she cleaned up.\nMr. Berry has also lost some weight, because he has not had much of an appetite. “Hopefully it’s not a prolonged effect,” he said. “I can imagine it changes the quality of life.”\nDavid Kirkpatrick contributed reporting from London.\nA version of this article appears in print on\nMarch 23, 2020\n, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Loss of Smell and Taste May Be a Peculiar Clue\n.\nOrder Reprints\n|\nToday’s Paper\n|\nSubscribe\nRelated Content\nThe Covid-19 Pandemic\nRuth Fremson\/The New York Times\nCallaghan O'Hare for The New York Times\nEric Lee\/The New York Times\nMore in Health\nFederica Bordoni\nHesslefors\/ullstein bild, via Getty Images\nKent J. Edwards for The New York Times\nKristian Thacker for The New York Times\nEditors’ Picks\nIllustration by Tomi Um\nShutterstock\nTrending in The Times\nTierney L. Cross\/The New York Times\nMPTV Images, via Reuters Connect\nVincent Alban\/The New York Times\nGetty Images\nKazuhiro Nogi\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\nImage by Jeff J Mitchell\/Getty Images\nArtu Nepomuceno\nMichelle V. Agins\/The New York Times\nAdvertisement\nSKIP ADVERTISEMENT","attrs_markdown":"[Skip to content](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/22\/health\/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html#site-content)[Skip to site index](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/22\/health\/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html#site-index)\n\nSearch & Section Navigation\n\nSection Navigation\n\nSearch\n\n[Health](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/health)\n\n[Log in](https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fsubscription%2Fonboarding-offer%3FcampaignId%3D7JFJX%26EXIT_URI%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2020%252F03%252F22%252Fhealth%252Fcoronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html&asset=masthead)\n\nMonday, March 9, 2026\n\n[Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper)\n\n[Health](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/health)\\|Lost Sense of Smell May Be Peculiar Clue to Coronavirus Infection\n\nhttps:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/22\/health\/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html\n\n- Share full article\n- 261\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/22\/health\/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html#after-top)\n\nSupported by\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/22\/health\/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html#after-sponsor)\n# Lost Sense of Smell May Be Peculiar Clue to Coronavirus Infection\nDoctor groups are recommending testing and isolation for people who lose their ability to smell and taste, even if they have no other symptoms.\n\n- Share full article\n- 261\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2020\/03\/22\/science\/22virus-smell1\/merlin_170767317_c09b46b1-0467-47ef-84af-5e61e80bd4fb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nA girl removed her mask to smell the flowers on a blooming tree in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Friday. Evidence is growing that lost sense of smell and taste are peculiar telltale signs of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Credit...Ognen Teofilovski\/Reuters\n\n[![Roni Caryn Rabin](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2018\/02\/20\/multimedia\/author-roni-caryn-rabin\/author-roni-caryn-rabin-thumbLarge-v3.png)](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/roni-caryn-rabin)\n\nBy [Roni Caryn Rabin](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/roni-caryn-rabin)\n\nPublished March 22, 2020Updated Jan. 2, 2021\n\n[阅读简体中文版](https:\/\/cn.nytimes.com\/health\/20200325\/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste\/ \"Read in Simplified Chinese\")[閱讀繁體中文版](https:\/\/cn.nytimes.com\/health\/20200325\/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste\/zh-hant\/ \"Read in Traditional Chinese\")\n\nA mother who was infected with the [coronavirus](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/article\/coronavirus-body-symptoms.html) couldn’t smell her baby’s full diaper. Cooks who can usually name every spice in a restaurant dish can’t smell curry or garlic, and food tastes bland. Others say they can’t pick up the sweet scent of shampoo or the foul odor of kitty litter.\n\nAnosmia, the [loss of sense of smell](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/02\/health\/coronavirus-smell-taste.html), and ageusia, an accompanying diminished sense of taste, have emerged as peculiar telltale signs of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and possible markers of infection.\n\nOn Friday, British ear, nose and throat doctors, citing reports from colleagues around the world, called on adults who lose their senses of smell to isolate themselves for seven days, even if they have no other symptoms, to slow the disease’s spread. The published data is limited, but doctors are concerned enough to raise warnings.\n\n“We really want to raise awareness that this is a sign of infection and that anyone who develops loss of sense of smell should self-isolate,” Prof. Claire Hopkins, president of the British Rhinological Society, wrote in an email. “It could contribute to slowing transmission and save lives.”\n\nShe and Nirmal Kumar, president of ENT UK, a group representing ear, nose and throat doctors in Britain, issued a joint statement urging health care workers to use personal protective equipment when treating any patients who have lost their senses of smell, and advised against performing nonessential sinus endoscopy procedures on anyone, because the virus replicates in the nose and the throat and an exam can prompt coughs or sneezes that expose the doctor to a high level of virus.\n\nTwo ear, nose and throat specialists in Britain who have been infected with the coronavirus are in critical condition, Dr. Hopkins said. Earlier reports from Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus first emerged, had warned that ear, nose and throat specialists as well as eye doctors were infected and dying in large numbers, Dr. Hopkins said.\n\n## More on the Virus\n- **Is It Cold, Flu or Covid?:** With similar symptoms, it can be difficult to tell which illness is which. [Here’s what to know](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/11\/25\/well\/cold-flu-covid-symptoms.html).\n- **Heart Problems:** One study found that a Covid infection [doubled the risk of a major cardiovascular event for up to three years afterward](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/11\/22\/well\/covid-heart-health.html). And the risk of a heart attack [triples within the first few weeks](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/29\/well\/viral-infections-covid-flu-heart-attacks.html) after an infection, another suggested.\n- **Long Covid in Children:** People under 21 [are](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/09\/30\/health\/long-covid-children.html) [twice as likely to develop long-term health consequences](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/09\/30\/health\/long-covid-children.html) after a second coronavirus infection, a large study found.\n- **Covid Shots****:** The F.D.A. [approved updated Covid vaccines](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/08\/27\/health\/fda-covid-vaccines-rfk-jr.html) and limited who can get the shots. Children [under 12 need different versions of the vaccines](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/10\/07\/well\/covid-vaccine-children-parents-issues-rfk-jr.html), but many pharmacies and pediatricians’ offices aren’t stocking them. [Here's what to know](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/08\/27\/well\/covid-vaccines-guidelines-fall-2025.html).\n- **Gut Issues:** Why does Covid cause [diarrhea, constipation, pain and bloating? Here are some suggestions for](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/12\/well\/eat\/covid-symptoms-diarrhea-constipation-pain-bloating.html) what to do about these conditions.\n\nThe British physicians cited reports from other countries indicating that significant numbers of coronavirus patients experienced anosmia, saying that in South Korea, where testing has been widespread, 30 percent of 2,000 patients who tested positive experienced anosmia as their major presenting symptom (these were mild cases).\n\nThe [American Academy of Otolaryngology on Sunday posted information on its website](https:\/\/www.entnet.org\/content\/coronavirus-disease-2019-resources) saying that mounting anecdotal evidence indicates that lost or reduced sense of smell and loss of taste are significant symptoms associated with Covid-19, and that they have been seen in patients who ultimately tested positive with no other symptoms.\n\nThe symptoms, in the absence of allergies or sinusitis, should alert doctors to screen patients for the virus and “warrant serious consideration for self isolation and testing of these individuals,” the academy said. The organization has reminded its members that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [has urged all clinicians to prioritize urgent and emergency visits](https:\/\/www.entnet.org\/content\/new-recommendations-regarding-urgent-and-nonurgent-patient-care) for the next several weeks and to reschedule elective and routine procedures.\n\n## Editors’ Picks\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/07\/multimedia\/07ST-RWREVIEW-GIVENCHY-01-mwqt\/07ST-RWREVIEW-GIVENCHY-01-mwqt-thumbLarge.jpg)And Givenchy Created Woman](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/07\/style\/givenchy-sarah-burton-fall-2026.html)\n\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/06\/business\/06biz-adviser\/06biz-adviser-thumbLarge.jpg)A Vexing Problem for College Students: Course Availability](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/06\/your-money\/college-students-course-availability.html)\n\n[![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/08\/multimedia\/08a2_insider-shaw-ktqh\/08a2_insider-shaw-ktqh-thumbLarge.jpg)In a Screen-Dazzled World, a Theater Critic Has the Antidote](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/08\/insider\/theater-critic-broadway-helen-shaw.html)\n\nAdvertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/22\/health\/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html#after-pp_edpick)\n\n“There is evolving evidence that otolaryngologists are among the highest risk group when performing upper airway surgeries and examinations,” said a notice posted on the academy’s website on Friday. “A high rate of transmission of Covid-19 to otolaryngologists has been reported from China, Italy and Iran, many resulting in death.”\n\nDr. Rachel Kaye, an assistant professor of otolaryngology at Rutgers, said colleagues in New Rochelle, N.Y., which has been the center of an outbreak, first alerted her to the smell loss associated with the coronavirus, sharing that patients who had first complained of anosmia later tested positive for the coronavirus. “This raised a lot of alarms for me personally,” Dr. Kaye said, because those patients “won’t know to self quarantine.”\n\n“Most ENTs have on their own accord tried to scale down,” she said, adding that her department at Rutgers had already started using personal protective equipment and stopped performing nonessential exams.\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2020\/03\/22\/science\/22virus-smell2\/22virus-smell2-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nPeople shopping in Milan, hard hit by the coronavirus. Doctors in Italy have found that loss of the sense of smell can be a sign of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Credit...Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times\n\nIn the areas of Italy most heavily affected by the virus, doctors say they have concluded that loss of taste and smell is an indication that a person who otherwise seems healthy is in fact carrying the virus and may be spreading it to others.\n\n“Almost everybody who is hospitalized has this same story,” said Dr. Marco Metra, chief of the cardiology department at the main hospital in Brescia, where 700 of 1,200 inpatients have the coronavirus. “You ask about the patient’s wife or husband. And 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.”\n\nA study from South Korea, where widespread testing has been done, found that 30 percent of some 2,000 patients who tested positive for the coronavirus reported experiencing anosmia.\n\nHendrik Streeck, a German virologist from the University of Bonn who went from house to house in the country’s Heinsberg district to interview coronavirus patients, has said in interviews that at least two-thirds of the more than 100 he talked to with mild disease reported experiencing loss of smell and taste lasting several days.\n\nAnother physician [who studied a cluster of coronavirus patients in Germany](https:\/\/www.medrxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2020.03.05.20030502v1.full.pdf) said in an email that roughly half of the patients had experienced a smell or taste disorder, and that the sensory loss usually presented after the first symptoms of respiratory illness, but could be used to distinguish people who should be tested.\n\nDr. Clemens Wendtner, a professor of medicine at the Academic Teaching Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, said that the patients regained their ability to smell after a few days or weeks, and that the loss occurred regardless of how sick they got or whether they were congested. Using nasal drops or sprays did not help, Dr. Wendtner said.\n\n***\\[*****[*Like the Science Times page on Facebook.*](http:\/\/on.fb.me\/1paTQ1h)***\\| Sign up for the* **[*Science Times newsletter.*](http:\/\/nyti.ms\/1MbHaRU)*****\\]***\n\nSeveral American patients who have had symptoms consistent with the coronavirus, but who have not been tested or are still awaiting test results, described losing their senses of smell and taste, even though their noses were clear and they were not congested.\n\nAndrew Berry, 30, developed a fever and [body](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/article\/coronavirus-body-symptoms.html) aches about 10 days ago, and then a sore throat and debilitating headaches. He tested negative for influenza and has not gotten the result of a coronavirus test taken four days ago, but his physician was convinced that he had the virus, he said.\n\nNow, Mr. Berry said, he literally cannot smell the coffee.\n\n“Even with a clear nose, I just realized I couldn’t smell the food that I was cooking, and I couldn’t taste the food that I was making,” said Mr. Berry, a tattoo artist based in Orlando, Fla. He was cooking a plantain dish with onions and vinegar, yet he could not smell it.\n\nAmy Plattmier, a woman from Brooklyn, was not tested for the coronavirus during a recent illness, but her husband then became sick and had a positive test. Ms. Plattmier said she usually had a very sensitive nose, but now could barely smell anything — not the bleach she was using to clean the counters, which usually makes her feel nauseated, or the dog’s accident in the bathroom, which she cleaned up.\n\nMr. Berry has also lost some weight, because he has not had much of an appetite. “Hopefully it’s not a prolonged effect,” he said. “I can imagine it changes the quality of life.”\n\nDavid Kirkpatrick contributed reporting from London.\n\nA version of this article appears in print on March 23, 2020, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Loss of Smell and Taste May Be a Peculiar Clue. [Order Reprints](https:\/\/nytimes.wrightsmedia.com\/) \\| [Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper) \\| [Subscribe](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscriptions\/Multiproduct\/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY)\n\nRead 261 comments\n\n- Share full article\n- 261\n\n## Related Content\n### [The Covid-19 Pandemic](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/news-event\/coronavirus)\n- [Scientists Get a Glimpse to How New Pandemics Are Made](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/09\/science\/covid-coronavirus-evolution.html)\n  \n  ![A family physician testing patients for the Covid-19 virus at a clinic in Oregon in May 2020.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/10\/multimedia\/00HS-SCI-SPILLOVER-bpfv\/00HS-SCI-SPILLOVER-bpfv-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Ruth Fremson\/The New York Times\n- [As Kennedy Turns From Vaccines, MAHA Allies See a ‘Betrayal’](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/02\/health\/kennedy-maha-vaccines.html)\n  \n  ![Derrick Wynne was discharged from the Army for refusing a Covid shot. “He was using our movement to gain a huge amount of traction,” he said of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/12\/05\/multimedia\/00hs-antivax-pqbj\/00hs-antivax-pqbj-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Callaghan O'Hare for The New York Times\n- [C.D.C.’s New Acting Director Draws Unexpected Praise From Agency Staff](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/26\/health\/cdc-bhattacharya-vaccinations-measles.html)\n  \n  Eric Lee\/The New York Times\n\n### [More in Health](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/health)\n- [Banks Are Becoming Bulwarks for Vulnerable Seniors](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/28\/health\/scams-elderly-banks.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/03\/science\/03sci-SPAN-financial-predators\/03sci-SPAN-financial-predators-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Federica Bordoni\n- [From 2001: Beate Uhse, 81, Entrepreneur in the Business of Erotic Goods](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/06\/world\/europe\/beate-uhse-dead.html)\n  \n  ![Beate Uhse in 1971, in front of her mail-order company headquarters in Flensburg, Germany.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/06\/obituaries\/06whm-uhse-obit\/06whm-uhse-obit-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Hesslefors\/ullstein bild, via Getty Images\n- [They Helped Her Open a Weed Shop. Now They’re Suing for \\$2.5 Million.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/05\/nyregion\/cannabis-housingworks-new-york-dispute.html)\n  \n  ![Leeann Mata says that Housing Works has not delivered on the agreement to help develop her cannabis dispensary, Matawana.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/20\/multimedia\/00met-cannabis-housingworks-gzwj\/00met-cannabis-housingworks-gzwj-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Kent J. Edwards for The New York Times\n- [Most Patients Keep Weight Off With Fewer GLP-1 Shots, Study Finds](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/04\/health\/glp1-weight-loss-dosing.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/04\/multimedia\/04HS-weight-loss-zgtw\/04HS-weight-loss-zgtw-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Kristian Thacker for The New York Times\n\n### Editors’ Picks\n- [My Sister’s Crime Shattered Our Family. Do I Have to Help Her?](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/07\/magazine\/sisters-crime-family-ethics.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/14\/magazine\/14mag-ethicist\/14mag-ethicist-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Illustration by Tomi Um\n- [Seat 11A: The Windowless Inside Joke at 30,000 Feet](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/07\/us\/seat-11a-no-window-ryanair-airlines.html)\n  \n  ![On certain Boeing 737 and Airbus A321 jets, row 11 offers a seat sold as a window view that shows, instead, a wall. The discovery tends to arrive after boarding.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/26\/multimedia\/00xp-Seat11A-cvmj\/00xp-Seat11A-cvmj-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Shutterstock\n\n### Trending in The Times\n- [Kristi Noem Survived Many Crises. Then She Crossed a Trump Red Line.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/06\/us\/politics\/trump-noem.html)\n  \n  ![Kristi Noem testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, where her comments led the president to fire her later in the week.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/06\/multimedia\/06dc-trump-noem-gmpc\/06dc-trump-noem-gmpc-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Tierney L. Cross\/The New York Times\n- [From 1969: Judy Garland, 47, Found Dead](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/06\/movies\/judy-garland-dead.html)\n  \n  ![Judy Garland around 1941.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/06\/obituaries\/06WHM-Garland-Obit-01\/06WHM-Garland-Obit-01-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  MPTV Images, via Reuters Connect\n- [U.S. Authorities Are Investigating Device Thrown Near Gracie Mansion](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/08\/nyregion\/gracie-mansion-bomb-investigation.html)\n  \n  ![Emir Balat runs as police officers approach and a homemade bomb starts to emit smoke outside Gracie Mansion on Saturday.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/08\/multimedia\/08METGracie-bfvj\/08METGracie-bfvj-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Vincent Alban\/The New York Times\n- [Is This Treadmill Walking Trend Good for Your Fitness?](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/06\/well\/move\/12-3-30-treadmill-workout-trend.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/06\/well\/06WELL-TREADMILL-TREND2\/06WELL-TREADMILL-TREND2-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Getty Images\n- [Surging Oil Prices Tank Stocks in Asia](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/09\/business\/stocks-iran-oil.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/09\/multimedia\/09Biz-Iran-Stocks-promo-gmck\/09Biz-Iran-Stocks-promo-gmck-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Kazuhiro Nogi\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n- [Large Fire in Glasgow Forces Closure of Major Train Station](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/08\/world\/europe\/glasgow-central-train-station-fire.html)\n  \n  ![More than 60 firefighters battled the blaze after it began at a shop near Glasgow’s main train station on Sunday.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/08\/multimedia\/08xp-fire-kwlz\/08xp-fire-kwlz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Image by Jeff J Mitchell\/Getty Images\n- [Learn to Dog-Sled in Snowy Northern Minnesota](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/video\/travel\/100000010756487\/minnesota-sled-dog-hotel.html)\n  \n  ![A dog team pulls guests on a day trip from Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge, on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Ely, Minn.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/04\/multimedia\/04Trav-dogsledding-minnesota-01-qgjv\/04Trav-dogsledding-minnesota-01-qgjv-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n- [‘The Headlines’ News Quiz: Mar. 6, 2026](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/06\/podcasts\/the-headlines\/the-headlines-news-quiz-mar-6-2026.html)\n  \n  ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/10\/24\/podcasts\/Headlines-quiz-art\/Headlines-quiz-art-square640-v8.png?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n- [Their Favorite Projects? Inventing Cocktails and Card Games.](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/06\/style\/alelli-tanghal-jai-lennard-wedding.html)\n  \n  ![Alelli Tanghal and Jai Lidell hosted a wedding celebration on Feb. 28 at the Palacio de Memoria, a prewar mansion in Metro Manila.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/08\/multimedia\/06ST-VOWS-PHILIPPINES-01-kmjv\/06ST-VOWS-PHILIPPINES-01-kmjv-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Artu Nepomuceno\n- [In a Screen-Dazzled World, a Theater Critic Has the Antidote](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/03\/08\/insider\/theater-critic-broadway-helen-shaw.html)\n  \n  ![Helen Shaw, The Times’s new chief theater critic, outside the Walter Kerr Theater last week.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/08\/multimedia\/08a2_insider-shaw-ktqh\/08a2_insider-shaw-ktqh-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Michelle V. 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[Subscriptions](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=37WXW)","attrs_readable_markdown":"Advertisement\n\n[SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/22\/health\/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html#after-top)\n\nDoctor groups are recommending testing and isolation for people who lose their ability to smell and taste, even if they have no other symptoms.\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2020\/03\/22\/science\/22virus-smell1\/merlin_170767317_c09b46b1-0467-47ef-84af-5e61e80bd4fb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nA girl removed her mask to smell the flowers on a blooming tree in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Friday. Evidence is growing that lost sense of smell and taste are peculiar telltale signs of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Credit...Ognen Teofilovski\/Reuters\n\nPublished March 22, 2020Updated Jan. 2, 2021\n\nA mother who was infected with the [coronavirus](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/article\/coronavirus-body-symptoms.html) couldn’t smell her baby’s full diaper. Cooks who can usually name every spice in a restaurant dish can’t smell curry or garlic, and food tastes bland. Others say they can’t pick up the sweet scent of shampoo or the foul odor of kitty litter.\n\nAnosmia, the [loss of sense of smell](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/01\/02\/health\/coronavirus-smell-taste.html), and ageusia, an accompanying diminished sense of taste, have emerged as peculiar telltale signs of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and possible markers of infection.\n\nOn Friday, British ear, nose and throat doctors, citing reports from colleagues around the world, called on adults who lose their senses of smell to isolate themselves for seven days, even if they have no other symptoms, to slow the disease’s spread. The published data is limited, but doctors are concerned enough to raise warnings.\n\n“We really want to raise awareness that this is a sign of infection and that anyone who develops loss of sense of smell should self-isolate,” Prof. Claire Hopkins, president of the British Rhinological Society, wrote in an email. “It could contribute to slowing transmission and save lives.”\n\nShe and Nirmal Kumar, president of ENT UK, a group representing ear, nose and throat doctors in Britain, issued a joint statement urging health care workers to use personal protective equipment when treating any patients who have lost their senses of smell, and advised against performing nonessential sinus endoscopy procedures on anyone, because the virus replicates in the nose and the throat and an exam can prompt coughs or sneezes that expose the doctor to a high level of virus.\n\nTwo ear, nose and throat specialists in Britain who have been infected with the coronavirus are in critical condition, Dr. Hopkins said. Earlier reports from Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus first emerged, had warned that ear, nose and throat specialists as well as eye doctors were infected and dying in large numbers, Dr. Hopkins said.\n\nThe British physicians cited reports from other countries indicating that significant numbers of coronavirus patients experienced anosmia, saying that in South Korea, where testing has been widespread, 30 percent of 2,000 patients who tested positive experienced anosmia as their major presenting symptom (these were mild cases).\n\nThe [American Academy of Otolaryngology on Sunday posted information on its website](https:\/\/www.entnet.org\/content\/coronavirus-disease-2019-resources) saying that mounting anecdotal evidence indicates that lost or reduced sense of smell and loss of taste are significant symptoms associated with Covid-19, and that they have been seen in patients who ultimately tested positive with no other symptoms.\n\nThe symptoms, in the absence of allergies or sinusitis, should alert doctors to screen patients for the virus and “warrant serious consideration for self isolation and testing of these individuals,” the academy said. The organization has reminded its members that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [has urged all clinicians to prioritize urgent and emergency visits](https:\/\/www.entnet.org\/content\/new-recommendations-regarding-urgent-and-nonurgent-patient-care) for the next several weeks and to reschedule elective and routine procedures.\n\n“There is evolving evidence that otolaryngologists are among the highest risk group when performing upper airway surgeries and examinations,” said a notice posted on the academy’s website on Friday. “A high rate of transmission of Covid-19 to otolaryngologists has been reported from China, Italy and Iran, many resulting in death.”\n\nDr. Rachel Kaye, an assistant professor of otolaryngology at Rutgers, said colleagues in New Rochelle, N.Y., which has been the center of an outbreak, first alerted her to the smell loss associated with the coronavirus, sharing that patients who had first complained of anosmia later tested positive for the coronavirus. “This raised a lot of alarms for me personally,” Dr. Kaye said, because those patients “won’t know to self quarantine.”\n\n“Most ENTs have on their own accord tried to scale down,” she said, adding that her department at Rutgers had already started using personal protective equipment and stopped performing nonessential exams.\n\nImage\n\n![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2020\/03\/22\/science\/22virus-smell2\/22virus-smell2-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n\nPeople shopping in Milan, hard hit by the coronavirus. Doctors in Italy have found that loss of the sense of smell can be a sign of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Credit...Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times\n\nIn the areas of Italy most heavily affected by the virus, doctors say they have concluded that loss of taste and smell is an indication that a person who otherwise seems healthy is in fact carrying the virus and may be spreading it to others.\n\n“Almost everybody who is hospitalized has this same story,” said Dr. Marco Metra, chief of the cardiology department at the main hospital in Brescia, where 700 of 1,200 inpatients have the coronavirus. “You ask about the patient’s wife or husband. And 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.”\n\nA study from South Korea, where widespread testing has been done, found that 30 percent of some 2,000 patients who tested positive for the coronavirus reported experiencing anosmia.\n\nHendrik Streeck, a German virologist from the University of Bonn who went from house to house in the country’s Heinsberg district to interview coronavirus patients, has said in interviews that at least two-thirds of the more than 100 he talked to with mild disease reported experiencing loss of smell and taste lasting several days.\n\nAnother physician [who studied a cluster of coronavirus patients in Germany](https:\/\/www.medrxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2020.03.05.20030502v1.full.pdf) said in an email that roughly half of the patients had experienced a smell or taste disorder, and that the sensory loss usually presented after the first symptoms of respiratory illness, but could be used to distinguish people who should be tested.\n\nDr. Clemens Wendtner, a professor of medicine at the Academic Teaching Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, said that the patients regained their ability to smell after a few days or weeks, and that the loss occurred regardless of how sick they got or whether they were congested. Using nasal drops or sprays did not help, Dr. Wendtner said.\n\n***\\[*****[*Like the Science Times page on Facebook.*](http:\/\/on.fb.me\/1paTQ1h)***\\| Sign up for the* **[*Science Times newsletter.*](http:\/\/nyti.ms\/1MbHaRU)*****\\]***\n\nSeveral American patients who have had symptoms consistent with the coronavirus, but who have not been tested or are still awaiting test results, described losing their senses of smell and taste, even though their noses were clear and they were not congested.\n\nAndrew Berry, 30, developed a fever and [body](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/article\/coronavirus-body-symptoms.html) aches about 10 days ago, and then a sore throat and debilitating headaches. He tested negative for influenza and has not gotten the result of a coronavirus test taken four days ago, but his physician was convinced that he had the virus, he said.\n\nNow, Mr. Berry said, he literally cannot smell the coffee.\n\n“Even with a clear nose, I just realized I couldn’t smell the food that I was cooking, and I couldn’t taste the food that I was making,” said Mr. Berry, a tattoo artist based in Orlando, Fla. He was cooking a plantain dish with onions and vinegar, yet he could not smell it.\n\nAmy Plattmier, a woman from Brooklyn, was not tested for the coronavirus during a recent illness, but her husband then became sick and had a positive test. Ms. Plattmier said she usually had a very sensitive nose, but now could barely smell anything — not the bleach she was using to clean the counters, which usually makes her feel nauseated, or the dog’s accident in the bathroom, which she cleaned up.\n\nMr. Berry has also lost some weight, because he has not had much of an appetite. “Hopefully it’s not a prolonged effect,” he said. “I can imagine it changes the quality of life.”\n\nDavid Kirkpatrick contributed reporting from London.\n\nA version of this article appears in print on March 23, 2020, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Loss of Smell and Taste May Be a Peculiar Clue. [Order Reprints](https:\/\/nytimes.wrightsmedia.com\/) \\| [Today’s Paper](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/todayspaper) \\| [Subscribe](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscriptions\/Multiproduct\/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY)\n\n## Related Content\n[The Covid-19 Pandemic](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/news-event\/coronavirus)\n\n- ![A family physician testing patients for the Covid-19 virus at a clinic in Oregon in May 2020.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/10\/multimedia\/00HS-SCI-SPILLOVER-bpfv\/00HS-SCI-SPILLOVER-bpfv-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Ruth Fremson\/The New York Times\n- ![Derrick Wynne was discharged from the Army for refusing a Covid shot. “He was using our movement to gain a huge amount of traction,” he said of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/12\/05\/multimedia\/00hs-antivax-pqbj\/00hs-antivax-pqbj-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Callaghan O'Hare for The New York Times\n- Eric Lee\/The New York Times\n\n[More in Health](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/health)\n\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/03\/science\/03sci-SPAN-financial-predators\/03sci-SPAN-financial-predators-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Federica Bordoni\n- ![Beate Uhse in 1971, in front of her mail-order company headquarters in Flensburg, Germany.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/06\/obituaries\/06whm-uhse-obit\/06whm-uhse-obit-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Hesslefors\/ullstein bild, via Getty Images\n- ![Leeann Mata says that Housing Works has not delivered on the agreement to help develop her cannabis dispensary, Matawana.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/20\/multimedia\/00met-cannabis-housingworks-gzwj\/00met-cannabis-housingworks-gzwj-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Kent J. Edwards for The New York Times\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/04\/multimedia\/04HS-weight-loss-zgtw\/04HS-weight-loss-zgtw-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Kristian Thacker for The New York Times\n\nEditors’ Picks\n\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/14\/magazine\/14mag-ethicist\/14mag-ethicist-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Illustration by Tomi Um\n- ![On certain Boeing 737 and Airbus A321 jets, row 11 offers a seat sold as a window view that shows, instead, a wall. The discovery tends to arrive after boarding.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/26\/multimedia\/00xp-Seat11A-cvmj\/00xp-Seat11A-cvmj-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)\n  \n  Shutterstock\n\nTrending in The Times\n\n- ![Kristi Noem testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, where her comments led the president to fire her later in the week.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/06\/multimedia\/06dc-trump-noem-gmpc\/06dc-trump-noem-gmpc-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Tierney L. Cross\/The New York Times\n- ![Judy Garland around 1941.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/06\/obituaries\/06WHM-Garland-Obit-01\/06WHM-Garland-Obit-01-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  MPTV Images, via Reuters Connect\n- ![Emir Balat runs as police officers approach and a homemade bomb starts to emit smoke outside Gracie Mansion on Saturday.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/08\/multimedia\/08METGracie-bfvj\/08METGracie-bfvj-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Vincent Alban\/The New York Times\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/06\/well\/06WELL-TREADMILL-TREND2\/06WELL-TREADMILL-TREND2-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Getty Images\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/09\/multimedia\/09Biz-Iran-Stocks-promo-gmck\/09Biz-Iran-Stocks-promo-gmck-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Kazuhiro Nogi\/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images\n- ![More than 60 firefighters battled the blaze after it began at a shop near Glasgow’s main train station on Sunday.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/08\/multimedia\/08xp-fire-kwlz\/08xp-fire-kwlz-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Image by Jeff J Mitchell\/Getty Images\n- ![A dog team pulls guests on a day trip from Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge, on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Ely, Minn.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/04\/multimedia\/04Trav-dogsledding-minnesota-01-qgjv\/04Trav-dogsledding-minnesota-01-qgjv-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n- ![](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/10\/24\/podcasts\/Headlines-quiz-art\/Headlines-quiz-art-square640-v8.png?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n- ![Alelli Tanghal and Jai Lidell hosted a wedding celebration on Feb. 28 at the Palacio de Memoria, a prewar mansion in Metro Manila.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/08\/multimedia\/06ST-VOWS-PHILIPPINES-01-kmjv\/06ST-VOWS-PHILIPPINES-01-kmjv-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Artu Nepomuceno\n- ![Helen Shaw, The Times’s new chief theater critic, outside the Walter Kerr Theater last week.](https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/03\/08\/multimedia\/08a2_insider-shaw-ktqh\/08a2_insider-shaw-ktqh-square640.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=350)\n  \n  Michelle V. 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Boilerpipe Text	Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Doctor groups are recommending testing and isolation for people who lose their ability to smell and taste, even if they have no other symptoms. A girl removed her mask to smell the flowers on a blooming tree in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Friday. Evidence is growing that lost sense of smell and taste are peculiar telltale signs of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Credit... Ognen Teofilovski/Reuters Published March 22, 2020 Updated Jan. 2, 2021 A mother who was infected with the coronavirus couldn’t smell her baby’s full diaper. Cooks who can usually name every spice in a restaurant dish can’t smell curry or garlic, and food tastes bland. Others say they can’t pick up the sweet scent of shampoo or the foul odor of kitty litter. Anosmia, the loss of sense of smell , and ageusia, an accompanying diminished sense of taste, have emerged as peculiar telltale signs of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and possible markers of infection. On Friday, British ear, nose and throat doctors, citing reports from colleagues around the world, called on adults who lose their senses of smell to isolate themselves for seven days, even if they have no other symptoms, to slow the disease’s spread. The published data is limited, but doctors are concerned enough to raise warnings. “We really want to raise awareness that this is a sign of infection and that anyone who develops loss of sense of smell should self-isolate,” Prof. Claire Hopkins, president of the British Rhinological Society, wrote in an email. “It could contribute to slowing transmission and save lives.” She and Nirmal Kumar, president of ENT UK, a group representing ear, nose and throat doctors in Britain, issued a joint statement urging health care workers to use personal protective equipment when treating any patients who have lost their senses of smell, and advised against performing nonessential sinus endoscopy procedures on anyone, because the virus replicates in the nose and the throat and an exam can prompt coughs or sneezes that expose the doctor to a high level of virus. Two ear, nose and throat specialists in Britain who have been infected with the coronavirus are in critical condition, Dr. Hopkins said. Earlier reports from Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus first emerged, had warned that ear, nose and throat specialists as well as eye doctors were infected and dying in large numbers, Dr. Hopkins said. The British physicians cited reports from other countries indicating that significant numbers of coronavirus patients experienced anosmia, saying that in South Korea, where testing has been widespread, 30 percent of 2,000 patients who tested positive experienced anosmia as their major presenting symptom (these were mild cases). The American Academy of Otolaryngology on Sunday posted information on its website saying that mounting anecdotal evidence indicates that lost or reduced sense of smell and loss of taste are significant symptoms associated with Covid-19, and that they have been seen in patients who ultimately tested positive with no other symptoms. The symptoms, in the absence of allergies or sinusitis, should alert doctors to screen patients for the virus and “warrant serious consideration for self isolation and testing of these individuals,” the academy said. The organization has reminded its members that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged all clinicians to prioritize urgent and emergency visits for the next several weeks and to reschedule elective and routine procedures. “There is evolving evidence that otolaryngologists are among the highest risk group when performing upper airway surgeries and examinations,” said a notice posted on the academy’s website on Friday. “A high rate of transmission of Covid-19 to otolaryngologists has been reported from China, Italy and Iran, many resulting in death.” Dr. Rachel Kaye, an assistant professor of otolaryngology at Rutgers, said colleagues in New Rochelle, N.Y., which has been the center of an outbreak, first alerted her to the smell loss associated with the coronavirus, sharing that patients who had first complained of anosmia later tested positive for the coronavirus. “This raised a lot of alarms for me personally,” Dr. Kaye said, because those patients “won’t know to self quarantine.” “Most ENTs have on their own accord tried to scale down,” she said, adding that her department at Rutgers had already started using personal protective equipment and stopped performing nonessential exams. Image People shopping in Milan, hard hit by the coronavirus. Doctors in Italy have found that loss of the sense of smell can be a sign of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Credit... Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times In the areas of Italy most heavily affected by the virus, doctors say they have concluded that loss of taste and smell is an indication that a person who otherwise seems healthy is in fact carrying the virus and may be spreading it to others. “Almost everybody who is hospitalized has this same story,” said Dr. Marco Metra, chief of the cardiology department at the main hospital in Brescia, where 700 of 1,200 inpatients have the coronavirus. “You ask about the patient’s wife or husband. And 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 study from South Korea, where widespread testing has been done, found that 30 percent of some 2,000 patients who tested positive for the coronavirus reported experiencing anosmia. Hendrik Streeck, a German virologist from the University of Bonn who went from house to house in the country’s Heinsberg district to interview coronavirus patients, has said in interviews that at least two-thirds of the more than 100 he talked to with mild disease reported experiencing loss of smell and taste lasting several days. Another physician who studied a cluster of coronavirus patients in Germany said in an email that roughly half of the patients had experienced a smell or taste disorder, and that the sensory loss usually presented after the first symptoms of respiratory illness, but could be used to distinguish people who should be tested. Dr. Clemens Wendtner, a professor of medicine at the Academic Teaching Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, said that the patients regained their ability to smell after a few days or weeks, and that the loss occurred regardless of how sick they got or whether they were congested. Using nasal drops or sprays did not help, Dr. Wendtner said. [ Like the Science Times page on Facebook. \| Sign up for the Science Times newsletter. ] Several American patients who have had symptoms consistent with the coronavirus, but who have not been tested or are still awaiting test results, described losing their senses of smell and taste, even though their noses were clear and they were not congested. Andrew Berry, 30, developed a fever and body aches about 10 days ago, and then a sore throat and debilitating headaches. He tested negative for influenza and has not gotten the result of a coronavirus test taken four days ago, but his physician was convinced that he had the virus, he said. Now, Mr. Berry said, he literally cannot smell the coffee. “Even with a clear nose, I just realized I couldn’t smell the food that I was cooking, and I couldn’t taste the food that I was making,” said Mr. Berry, a tattoo artist based in Orlando, Fla. He was cooking a plantain dish with onions and vinegar, yet he could not smell it. Amy Plattmier, a woman from Brooklyn, was not tested for the coronavirus during a recent illness, but her husband then became sick and had a positive test. Ms. Plattmier said she usually had a very sensitive nose, but now could barely smell anything — not the bleach she was using to clean the counters, which usually makes her feel nauseated, or the dog’s accident in the bathroom, which she cleaned up. Mr. Berry has also lost some weight, because he has not had much of an appetite. “Hopefully it’s not a prolonged effect,” he said. “I can imagine it changes the quality of life.” David Kirkpatrick contributed reporting from London. A version of this article appears in print on March 23, 2020 , Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Loss of Smell and Taste May Be a Peculiar Clue . Order Reprints \| Today’s Paper \| Subscribe Related Content The Covid-19 Pandemic Ruth Fremson/The New York Times Callaghan O'Hare for The New York Times Eric Lee/The New York Times More in Health Federica Bordoni Hesslefors/ullstein bild, via Getty Images Kent J. Edwards for The New York Times Kristian Thacker for The New York Times Editors’ Picks Illustration by Tomi Um Shutterstock Trending in The Times Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times MPTV Images, via Reuters Connect Vincent Alban/The New York Times Getty Images Kazuhiro Nogi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Image by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Artu Nepomuceno Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
Markdown	[Skip to content](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/health/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html#site-content)[Skip to site index](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/health/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html#site-index) Search & Section Navigation Section Navigation Search [Health](https://www.nytimes.com/section/health) [Log in](https://myaccount.nytimes.com/auth/login?response_type=cookie&client_id=vi&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fsubscription%2Fonboarding-offer%3FcampaignId%3D7JFJX%26EXIT_URI%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252F2020%252F03%252F22%252Fhealth%252Fcoronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html&asset=masthead) Monday, March 9, 2026 [Today’s Paper](https://www.nytimes.com/section/todayspaper) [Health](https://www.nytimes.com/section/health)\\|Lost Sense of Smell May Be Peculiar Clue to Coronavirus Infection https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/health/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html - Share full article - 261 Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/health/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html#after-top) Supported by [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/health/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html#after-sponsor) # Lost Sense of Smell May Be Peculiar Clue to Coronavirus Infection Doctor groups are recommending testing and isolation for people who lose their ability to smell and taste, even if they have no other symptoms. - Share full article - 261 ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/03/22/science/22virus-smell1/merlin_170767317_c09b46b1-0467-47ef-84af-5e61e80bd4fb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) A girl removed her mask to smell the flowers on a blooming tree in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Friday. Evidence is growing that lost sense of smell and taste are peculiar telltale signs of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Credit...Ognen Teofilovski/Reuters [![Roni Caryn Rabin](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2018/02/20/multimedia/author-roni-caryn-rabin/author-roni-caryn-rabin-thumbLarge-v3.png)](https://www.nytimes.com/by/roni-caryn-rabin) By [Roni Caryn Rabin](https://www.nytimes.com/by/roni-caryn-rabin) Published March 22, 2020Updated Jan. 2, 2021 [阅读简体中文版](https://cn.nytimes.com/health/20200325/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste/ "Read in Simplified Chinese")[閱讀繁體中文版](https://cn.nytimes.com/health/20200325/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste/zh-hant/ "Read in Traditional Chinese") A mother who was infected with the [coronavirus](https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-body-symptoms.html) couldn’t smell her baby’s full diaper. Cooks who can usually name every spice in a restaurant dish can’t smell curry or garlic, and food tastes bland. Others say they can’t pick up the sweet scent of shampoo or the foul odor of kitty litter. Anosmia, the [loss of sense of smell](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/02/health/coronavirus-smell-taste.html), and ageusia, an accompanying diminished sense of taste, have emerged as peculiar telltale signs of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and possible markers of infection. On Friday, British ear, nose and throat doctors, citing reports from colleagues around the world, called on adults who lose their senses of smell to isolate themselves for seven days, even if they have no other symptoms, to slow the disease’s spread. The published data is limited, but doctors are concerned enough to raise warnings. “We really want to raise awareness that this is a sign of infection and that anyone who develops loss of sense of smell should self-isolate,” Prof. Claire Hopkins, president of the British Rhinological Society, wrote in an email. “It could contribute to slowing transmission and save lives.” She and Nirmal Kumar, president of ENT UK, a group representing ear, nose and throat doctors in Britain, issued a joint statement urging health care workers to use personal protective equipment when treating any patients who have lost their senses of smell, and advised against performing nonessential sinus endoscopy procedures on anyone, because the virus replicates in the nose and the throat and an exam can prompt coughs or sneezes that expose the doctor to a high level of virus. Two ear, nose and throat specialists in Britain who have been infected with the coronavirus are in critical condition, Dr. Hopkins said. Earlier reports from Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus first emerged, had warned that ear, nose and throat specialists as well as eye doctors were infected and dying in large numbers, Dr. Hopkins said. ## More on the Virus - Is It Cold, Flu or Covid?: With similar symptoms, it can be difficult to tell which illness is which. [Here’s what to know](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/well/cold-flu-covid-symptoms.html). - Heart Problems: One study found that a Covid infection [doubled the risk of a major cardiovascular event for up to three years afterward](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/22/well/covid-heart-health.html). And the risk of a heart attack [triples within the first few weeks](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/well/viral-infections-covid-flu-heart-attacks.html) after an infection, another suggested. - Long Covid in Children: People under 21 [are](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/health/long-covid-children.html) [twice as likely to develop long-term health consequences](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/health/long-covid-children.html) after a second coronavirus infection, a large study found. - Covid Shots: The F.D.A. [approved updated Covid vaccines](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/health/fda-covid-vaccines-rfk-jr.html) and limited who can get the shots. Children [under 12 need different versions of the vaccines](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/well/covid-vaccine-children-parents-issues-rfk-jr.html), but many pharmacies and pediatricians’ offices aren’t stocking them. [Here's what to know](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/well/covid-vaccines-guidelines-fall-2025.html). - Gut Issues: Why does Covid cause [diarrhea, constipation, pain and bloating? Here are some suggestions for](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/12/well/eat/covid-symptoms-diarrhea-constipation-pain-bloating.html) what to do about these conditions. The British physicians cited reports from other countries indicating that significant numbers of coronavirus patients experienced anosmia, saying that in South Korea, where testing has been widespread, 30 percent of 2,000 patients who tested positive experienced anosmia as their major presenting symptom (these were mild cases). The [American Academy of Otolaryngology on Sunday posted information on its website](https://www.entnet.org/content/coronavirus-disease-2019-resources) saying that mounting anecdotal evidence indicates that lost or reduced sense of smell and loss of taste are significant symptoms associated with Covid-19, and that they have been seen in patients who ultimately tested positive with no other symptoms. The symptoms, in the absence of allergies or sinusitis, should alert doctors to screen patients for the virus and “warrant serious consideration for self isolation and testing of these individuals,” the academy said. The organization has reminded its members that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [has urged all clinicians to prioritize urgent and emergency visits](https://www.entnet.org/content/new-recommendations-regarding-urgent-and-nonurgent-patient-care) for the next several weeks and to reschedule elective and routine procedures. ## Editors’ Picks [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/03/07/multimedia/07ST-RWREVIEW-GIVENCHY-01-mwqt/07ST-RWREVIEW-GIVENCHY-01-mwqt-thumbLarge.jpg)And Givenchy Created Woman](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/style/givenchy-sarah-burton-fall-2026.html) [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/03/06/business/06biz-adviser/06biz-adviser-thumbLarge.jpg)A Vexing Problem for College Students: Course Availability](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/06/your-money/college-students-course-availability.html) [![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/03/08/multimedia/08a2_insider-shaw-ktqh/08a2_insider-shaw-ktqh-thumbLarge.jpg)In a Screen-Dazzled World, a Theater Critic Has the Antidote](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/08/insider/theater-critic-broadway-helen-shaw.html) Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/health/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html#after-pp_edpick) “There is evolving evidence that otolaryngologists are among the highest risk group when performing upper airway surgeries and examinations,” said a notice posted on the academy’s website on Friday. “A high rate of transmission of Covid-19 to otolaryngologists has been reported from China, Italy and Iran, many resulting in death.” Dr. Rachel Kaye, an assistant professor of otolaryngology at Rutgers, said colleagues in New Rochelle, N.Y., which has been the center of an outbreak, first alerted her to the smell loss associated with the coronavirus, sharing that patients who had first complained of anosmia later tested positive for the coronavirus. “This raised a lot of alarms for me personally,” Dr. Kaye said, because those patients “won’t know to self quarantine.” “Most ENTs have on their own accord tried to scale down,” she said, adding that her department at Rutgers had already started using personal protective equipment and stopped performing nonessential exams. Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/03/22/science/22virus-smell2/22virus-smell2-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) People shopping in Milan, hard hit by the coronavirus. Doctors in Italy have found that loss of the sense of smell can be a sign of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Credit...Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times In the areas of Italy most heavily affected by the virus, doctors say they have concluded that loss of taste and smell is an indication that a person who otherwise seems healthy is in fact carrying the virus and may be spreading it to others. “Almost everybody who is hospitalized has this same story,” said Dr. Marco Metra, chief of the cardiology department at the main hospital in Brescia, where 700 of 1,200 inpatients have the coronavirus. “You ask about the patient’s wife or husband. And 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 study from South Korea, where widespread testing has been done, found that 30 percent of some 2,000 patients who tested positive for the coronavirus reported experiencing anosmia. Hendrik Streeck, a German virologist from the University of Bonn who went from house to house in the country’s Heinsberg district to interview coronavirus patients, has said in interviews that at least two-thirds of the more than 100 he talked to with mild disease reported experiencing loss of smell and taste lasting several days. Another physician [who studied a cluster of coronavirus patients in Germany](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.05.20030502v1.full.pdf) said in an email that roughly half of the patients had experienced a smell or taste disorder, and that the sensory loss usually presented after the first symptoms of respiratory illness, but could be used to distinguish people who should be tested. Dr. Clemens Wendtner, a professor of medicine at the Academic Teaching Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, said that the patients regained their ability to smell after a few days or weeks, and that the loss occurred regardless of how sick they got or whether they were congested. Using nasal drops or sprays did not help, Dr. Wendtner said. *\[**[Like the Science Times page on Facebook.](http://on.fb.me/1paTQ1h)*\\| Sign up for the *[Science Times newsletter.](http://nyti.ms/1MbHaRU)**\]* Several American patients who have had symptoms consistent with the coronavirus, but who have not been tested or are still awaiting test results, described losing their senses of smell and taste, even though their noses were clear and they were not congested. Andrew Berry, 30, developed a fever and [body](https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-body-symptoms.html) aches about 10 days ago, and then a sore throat and debilitating headaches. He tested negative for influenza and has not gotten the result of a coronavirus test taken four days ago, but his physician was convinced that he had the virus, he said. Now, Mr. Berry said, he literally cannot smell the coffee. “Even with a clear nose, I just realized I couldn’t smell the food that I was cooking, and I couldn’t taste the food that I was making,” said Mr. Berry, a tattoo artist based in Orlando, Fla. He was cooking a plantain dish with onions and vinegar, yet he could not smell it. Amy Plattmier, a woman from Brooklyn, was not tested for the coronavirus during a recent illness, but her husband then became sick and had a positive test. Ms. Plattmier said she usually had a very sensitive nose, but now could barely smell anything — not the bleach she was using to clean the counters, which usually makes her feel nauseated, or the dog’s accident in the bathroom, which she cleaned up. Mr. Berry has also lost some weight, because he has not had much of an appetite. “Hopefully it’s not a prolonged effect,” he said. “I can imagine it changes the quality of life.” David Kirkpatrick contributed reporting from London. A version of this article appears in print on March 23, 2020, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Loss of Smell and Taste May Be a Peculiar Clue. 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Readable Markdown	Advertisement [SKIP ADVERTISEMENT](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/health/coronavirus-symptoms-smell-taste.html#after-top) Doctor groups are recommending testing and isolation for people who lose their ability to smell and taste, even if they have no other symptoms. ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/03/22/science/22virus-smell1/merlin_170767317_c09b46b1-0467-47ef-84af-5e61e80bd4fb-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) A girl removed her mask to smell the flowers on a blooming tree in Skopje, North Macedonia, on Friday. Evidence is growing that lost sense of smell and taste are peculiar telltale signs of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Credit...Ognen Teofilovski/Reuters Published March 22, 2020Updated Jan. 2, 2021 A mother who was infected with the [coronavirus](https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-body-symptoms.html) couldn’t smell her baby’s full diaper. Cooks who can usually name every spice in a restaurant dish can’t smell curry or garlic, and food tastes bland. Others say they can’t pick up the sweet scent of shampoo or the foul odor of kitty litter. Anosmia, the [loss of sense of smell](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/02/health/coronavirus-smell-taste.html), and ageusia, an accompanying diminished sense of taste, have emerged as peculiar telltale signs of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and possible markers of infection. On Friday, British ear, nose and throat doctors, citing reports from colleagues around the world, called on adults who lose their senses of smell to isolate themselves for seven days, even if they have no other symptoms, to slow the disease’s spread. The published data is limited, but doctors are concerned enough to raise warnings. “We really want to raise awareness that this is a sign of infection and that anyone who develops loss of sense of smell should self-isolate,” Prof. Claire Hopkins, president of the British Rhinological Society, wrote in an email. “It could contribute to slowing transmission and save lives.” She and Nirmal Kumar, president of ENT UK, a group representing ear, nose and throat doctors in Britain, issued a joint statement urging health care workers to use personal protective equipment when treating any patients who have lost their senses of smell, and advised against performing nonessential sinus endoscopy procedures on anyone, because the virus replicates in the nose and the throat and an exam can prompt coughs or sneezes that expose the doctor to a high level of virus. Two ear, nose and throat specialists in Britain who have been infected with the coronavirus are in critical condition, Dr. Hopkins said. Earlier reports from Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus first emerged, had warned that ear, nose and throat specialists as well as eye doctors were infected and dying in large numbers, Dr. Hopkins said. The British physicians cited reports from other countries indicating that significant numbers of coronavirus patients experienced anosmia, saying that in South Korea, where testing has been widespread, 30 percent of 2,000 patients who tested positive experienced anosmia as their major presenting symptom (these were mild cases). The [American Academy of Otolaryngology on Sunday posted information on its website](https://www.entnet.org/content/coronavirus-disease-2019-resources) saying that mounting anecdotal evidence indicates that lost or reduced sense of smell and loss of taste are significant symptoms associated with Covid-19, and that they have been seen in patients who ultimately tested positive with no other symptoms. The symptoms, in the absence of allergies or sinusitis, should alert doctors to screen patients for the virus and “warrant serious consideration for self isolation and testing of these individuals,” the academy said. The organization has reminded its members that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [has urged all clinicians to prioritize urgent and emergency visits](https://www.entnet.org/content/new-recommendations-regarding-urgent-and-nonurgent-patient-care) for the next several weeks and to reschedule elective and routine procedures. “There is evolving evidence that otolaryngologists are among the highest risk group when performing upper airway surgeries and examinations,” said a notice posted on the academy’s website on Friday. “A high rate of transmission of Covid-19 to otolaryngologists has been reported from China, Italy and Iran, many resulting in death.” Dr. Rachel Kaye, an assistant professor of otolaryngology at Rutgers, said colleagues in New Rochelle, N.Y., which has been the center of an outbreak, first alerted her to the smell loss associated with the coronavirus, sharing that patients who had first complained of anosmia later tested positive for the coronavirus. “This raised a lot of alarms for me personally,” Dr. Kaye said, because those patients “won’t know to self quarantine.” “Most ENTs have on their own accord tried to scale down,” she said, adding that her department at Rutgers had already started using personal protective equipment and stopped performing nonessential exams. Image ![](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/03/22/science/22virus-smell2/22virus-smell2-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) People shopping in Milan, hard hit by the coronavirus. Doctors in Italy have found that loss of the sense of smell can be a sign of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.Credit...Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times In the areas of Italy most heavily affected by the virus, doctors say they have concluded that loss of taste and smell is an indication that a person who otherwise seems healthy is in fact carrying the virus and may be spreading it to others. “Almost everybody who is hospitalized has this same story,” said Dr. Marco Metra, chief of the cardiology department at the main hospital in Brescia, where 700 of 1,200 inpatients have the coronavirus. “You ask about the patient’s wife or husband. And 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 study from South Korea, where widespread testing has been done, found that 30 percent of some 2,000 patients who tested positive for the coronavirus reported experiencing anosmia. Hendrik Streeck, a German virologist from the University of Bonn who went from house to house in the country’s Heinsberg district to interview coronavirus patients, has said in interviews that at least two-thirds of the more than 100 he talked to with mild disease reported experiencing loss of smell and taste lasting several days. Another physician [who studied a cluster of coronavirus patients in Germany](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.05.20030502v1.full.pdf) said in an email that roughly half of the patients had experienced a smell or taste disorder, and that the sensory loss usually presented after the first symptoms of respiratory illness, but could be used to distinguish people who should be tested. Dr. Clemens Wendtner, a professor of medicine at the Academic Teaching Hospital of Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, said that the patients regained their ability to smell after a few days or weeks, and that the loss occurred regardless of how sick they got or whether they were congested. Using nasal drops or sprays did not help, Dr. Wendtner said. *\[**[Like the Science Times page on Facebook.](http://on.fb.me/1paTQ1h)*\\| Sign up for the *[Science Times newsletter.](http://nyti.ms/1MbHaRU)**\]* Several American patients who have had symptoms consistent with the coronavirus, but who have not been tested or are still awaiting test results, described losing their senses of smell and taste, even though their noses were clear and they were not congested. Andrew Berry, 30, developed a fever and [body](https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-body-symptoms.html) aches about 10 days ago, and then a sore throat and debilitating headaches. He tested negative for influenza and has not gotten the result of a coronavirus test taken four days ago, but his physician was convinced that he had the virus, he said. Now, Mr. Berry said, he literally cannot smell the coffee. “Even with a clear nose, I just realized I couldn’t smell the food that I was cooking, and I couldn’t taste the food that I was making,” said Mr. Berry, a tattoo artist based in Orlando, Fla. He was cooking a plantain dish with onions and vinegar, yet he could not smell it. Amy Plattmier, a woman from Brooklyn, was not tested for the coronavirus during a recent illness, but her husband then became sick and had a positive test. Ms. Plattmier said she usually had a very sensitive nose, but now could barely smell anything — not the bleach she was using to clean the counters, which usually makes her feel nauseated, or the dog’s accident in the bathroom, which she cleaned up. Mr. Berry has also lost some weight, because he has not had much of an appetite. “Hopefully it’s not a prolonged effect,” he said. “I can imagine it changes the quality of life.” David Kirkpatrick contributed reporting from London. A version of this article appears in print on March 23, 2020, Section A, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Loss of Smell and Taste May Be a Peculiar Clue. [Order Reprints](https://nytimes.wrightsmedia.com/) \\| [Today’s Paper](https://www.nytimes.com/section/todayspaper) \\| [Subscribe](https://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/Multiproduct/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY) ## Related Content [The Covid-19 Pandemic](https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/coronavirus) - ![A family physician testing patients for the Covid-19 virus at a clinic in Oregon in May 2020.](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2026/03/10/multimedia/00HS-SCI-SPILLOVER-bpfv/00HS-SCI-SPILLOVER-bpfv-thumbLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale) Ruth Fremson/The New York Times - ![Derrick Wynne was discharged from the Army for refusing a Covid shot. “He was using our movement to gain a huge amount of traction,” he said of Robert F. 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