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Review
. 2021 Jun 15:425:117433.
doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2021.117433. Epub 2021 Apr 3.

Olfaction and anosmia: From ancient times to COVID-19

Stéphane Mathis  1 , Gwendal Le Masson  2 , Antoine Soulages  3 , Fanny Duval  4 , Louis Carla  5 , Jean-Michel Vallat  6 , Guilhem Solé  4
Affiliations
Review

Olfaction and anosmia: From ancient times to COVID-19

Stéphane Mathis et al. J Neurol Sci. .

Abstract

Olfaction, one of our five main qualitative sensory abilities, is the action of smelling or the capacity to smell. Olfactory impairment can be a sign of a medical problem, from a benign nasal/sinus problem up to a potentially serious brain injury. However, although clinicians (neurologists or not) usually test the olfactory nerves in specific clinical situations (for example, when a neurodegenerative disorder is suspected), they may omit such tests in many other situations. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the resurgence of anosmia has reminded us of the importance of testing this sensorineural function. We retrace here the main historical steps and discoveries concerning olfaction and anosmia.

Keywords: Anosmia; COVID-19; Infection; Olfaction.

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Conflict of interest statement

There is no conflict of interest associated with this review.

Figures

Unlabelled Image
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic and simplified representation of the olfactory circuitry. Examples of the localization of some neuropathological changes due to Alzheimer's disease and COVID-19 are showed (stars) (COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019; SARS-CoV-2: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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