OBJECTIVE: To investigate the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) status of patients with initial sudden olfactory anosmia (ISOA) through nasopharyngeal swabs for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis and to explore their olfactory dysfunctions with psychophysical olfactory evaluation. METHODS: A total of 78 ISOA patients were recruited from April 6, 2020, to April 10, 2020, through a public call of University of Mons (Mons, Belgium). Patients benefited from nasopharyngeal swabs and fulfilled the patient-reported outcome questionnaire. Among them, 46 patients performed psychophysical olfactory evaluation using olfactory identification testing. Based on the duration of the ISOA, 2 groups of patients were compared: patients with olfactory dysfunction duration ≤12 days (group 1) and those with duration >12 days (group 2). RESULTS: In group 1, 42 patients (87.5%) had a positive viral load determined by RT-PCR and 6 patients (12.5%) were negative. In group 2, 7 patients (23%) had a positive viral load and 23 patients (77%) were negative. The psychophysical olfactory evaluation reported that anosmia and hyposmia occurred in 24 (52%) and 11 (24%) patients, respectively. Eleven patients were normosmic. The viral load was significantly higher in patients of group 1 compared with those of group 2. CONCLUSIONS: Coronavirus disease 2019 was detected in a high proportion of ISOA patients, especially over the first 12 days of olfactory dysfunction. Anosmia is an important symptom to consider in the detection of COVID-19 infection.

COVID 19 Task Force of the Young Otolaryngologists of the International Federations of Oto rhino laryngological Societies Mons Belgium Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery CHU de Bruxelles CHU Saint Pierre School of Medicine Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels Belgium

COVID 19 Task Force of the Young Otolaryngologists of the International Federations of Oto rhino laryngological Societies Paris France

COVID 19 Task Force of the Young Otolaryngologists of the International Federations of Oto rhino laryngological Societies Paris France Department of Head and Neck Surgery EpiCURA Hospital Hornu Belgium

COVID 19 Task Force of the Young Otolaryngologists of the International Federations of Oto rhino laryngological Societies Paris France Department of Medicine Neurology CHU de Charleroi Charleroi Belgium

COVID 19 Task Force of the Young Otolaryngologists of the International Federations of Oto rhino laryngological Societies Paris France Department of Otolaryngology Hospital Complex of Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela Spain

COVID 19 Task Force of the Young Otolaryngologists of the International Federations of Oto rhino laryngological Societies Paris France Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery CHU de Bruxelles CHU Saint Pierre School of Medicine Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels Belgium

COVID 19 Task Force of the Young Otolaryngologists of the International Federations of Oto rhino laryngological Societies Paris France Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery 16650Hospital Universitario Donostia San Sebastian Spain

COVID 19 Task Force of the Young Otolaryngologists of the International Federations of Oto rhino laryngological Societies Paris France Division of Phoniatrics and Audiology Department of Mental and Physical Health and Preventive Medicine University of Naples SUN Naples Italy

Department of Microbiology Laboratoire Hospitalier Universitaire de Bruxelles Universitair Laboratorium Brussel Mons Belgium

Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery 1st Faculty of Medicine University Hospital Motol Prague Czech Republic

Guy's and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust London United Kingdom British Rhinological Society London United Kingdom

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