Christopher von Bartheld

Yong-chao Chen1,2,† Xin Wang1,2,† Yi-shu Teng1 De-sheng Jia1,2 Lan Li1 Hong-guang Pan1* 1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Shenzhen Children’s Hospital, Shenzhen, China 2Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Shenzhen Children’s Hospital, China Medical University, Shenzhen, China Purpose: China adjusted and optimized its prevention and control strategies in December 2022, and it entered a new era of the coronavirus epidemic.

Around 50% of people confirmed to have COVID-19 report a loss or reduction in the sense of smell. But does this imply that the virus is neuro-invasive through the olfactory neurons? A new study concludes that the olfactory nerve is an unlikely route to brain infection, which is thought to be a rare occurrence in humans.

Introduction In the list of clinical symptoms of COVID-19, a sudden loss of sense of smell and taste has been identified (Mehraeen et al., 2020). This is now recognized as a “significant symptom” that can be found even in the absence of the “usual symptoms” such as fever, cough, respiratory failure.