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. 2020 Oct:99:19-22.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.07.034. Epub 2020 Jul 26.

Acute onset olfactory/taste disorders are associated with a high viral burden in mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections

Kensuke Nakagawara  1 , Katsunori Masaki  2 , Yoshifumi Uwamino  3 , Hiroki Kabata  1 , Sho Uchida  4 , Shunsuke Uno  4 , Takanori Asakura  1 , Takeru Funakoshi  5 , Sho Kanzaki  6 , Makoto Ishii  1 , Naoki Hasegawa  4 , Koichi Fukunaga  1 ; Keio Donner Project
Affiliations

Acute onset olfactory/taste disorders are associated with a high viral burden in mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections

Kensuke Nakagawara et al. Int J Infect Dis. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

This study investigated, using cycle threshold (Ct) qPCR values, the association between symptoms and viral clearance in 57 patients with asymptomatic/mild SARS-CoV-2 infection. Patients with olfactory/taste disorders (OTDs) exhibited lower qPCR Ct values and longer time to negative qPCR than those without OTDs, suggesting an association between OTDs and high viral burden.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cycle threshold (Ct) values; Olfactory/taste disorders (OTDs); Real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR); SARS-CoV-2.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of symptoms during the time course. Days 0 indicates the date of the first positive RT-PCR result.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparisons of Ct values of the N1/N2 gene in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients with/without fever or acute onset olfactory/taste disorders.
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See this image and copyright information in PMC

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