Anosmia—An Effect of COVID-19 Infection-Review

The World Health Organization announced on March 11, 2020 that COVID-19 could become a pandemic. COVID-19 is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2). Viruses usually enter the body through the mouth or nose. The virus then enters the alveoli, which are small air sacs inside the lungs. Cough, fatigue, fever, shortness of breath or breathing difficulties, and loss of smell and taste are all symptoms of COVID-19. Anosmia, also known as smell blindness, is a condition in which the ability to detect one or more smells is lost. Olfaction uses chemoreceptors to create signals that are processed in the brain and form the sense of smell in anosmia. Anosmia is recognised as a COVID-19 symptom in many countries, and some have developed "smell tests" as potential screening tools. The first level of screening, which is currently used in India, is primarily based on temperature and can result in false positives and negatives (fever as a symptom has not yet been developed although infection). One of the methods for detecting COVID-19 is an intermediate level of screening based on assessing an olfactory function, depending on the usage. This paper provides an overview of COVID-19 and its effects on the human body, as well as an overview of anosmia and how it contributes to one of the symptoms of COVID-19.