Should we all use “smell tests” to detect corona? … A...

Mohamed Ismail – Cairo – Books – Syed Metwally
One of the best ways to contain the spread of Covid-19 is to quickly identify people infected with the Coronavirus and prevent them from spreading it to others.

Temperature checks are now used as a general screening tool to identify people with Covid-19, however, there is little scientific evidence that these tests allow reliable detection of the virus, according to the “medicalxpress” website.

Initially, handheld scanners only measure skin temperature, which can be variable, rather than core temperature, and there are issues with unreliable equipment.

As data from the ZOE COVID Symptom Study app indicates, more than half of people (57%) who test positive for COVID-19 never develop a fever, while those with a high temperature only experience it for two days in Average, so it’s not surprising that an airport temperature check fails to detect most of those infected.

And if using temperature checks to detect Covid-19 may provide more than just a false sense of safety, what should we do instead?

The use of “smelling tests” to identify cases of corona

Data from 4 million app users helped confirm that loss of smell (anosmia) was one of the main symptoms of Covid-19 in April, which contributed to making the United Kingdom and other countries adopt it as an official symptom.
In The Lancet with the latest application data, a study revealed that 65% of adults who tested positive for Covid-19 reported a loss of smell, with a large proportion of them never experiencing a high temperature, while just over 40% of people who tested positive With a fever.

For about 16% of people who have tested positive for the virus, loss of smell was the only symptom they had, most importantly, that during COVID-19 infection, the loss of smell lasts about seven days and is often longer, while the fever lasts for only three days. For most people.

A study conducted by scientists at UCL University College London showed that more than 75% of people who reported losing their sense of smell during the first wave of the virus tested positive for antibodies to the Coronavirus, although no other known symptoms appeared on one in four of them.

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In general, the data indicate that sudden loss of smell is a more common early symptom of Covid-19 than fever in all age groups, it is a 20-fold better indicator for a positive test for the virus in younger people and a 13-fold better indicator in the elderly than any other symptoms. .

Based on these results, using “smell tests” rather than temperature checks might be a better way to screening on a large scale in places like airports and hospitality, while in theory it sounds like a great idea, unfortunately, there’s a problem.

Why are “smelling tests” a bad idea

First, reduced sense of smell is very common. Approximately 20% of adults experience some degree of loss of smell – a number that rises to 80% for those over the age of 75, and it is unlikely that any of these people will have any. Proof of pre-existing odor loss that can relieve them of any limitations of the smell test.

Second, when looking at the data from the app, it was found that most people took about one week to regain their sense of smell after contracting Corona, but about one in ten people lost their sense of smell for three weeks or more – for much longer than they are potentially contagious. .

Finally, many of us lose our sense of smell when we suffer from a stuffy nose due to colds or sinusitis, although a stuffy nose is not considered a symptom of corona, but a simple smell test may not be able to distinguish between the two.
This means that although smell tests may identify people with corona at the time of infection, there will also be a large number of non-infectious people who may also fail the test and face unnecessary restrictions.

So, while the “smell test” may not be the answer, a sudden change in your sense of smell is still probably the best indicator of an early infection with Corona infection, as symptoms are less common in children, but this may be because they are not likely to be noticed. Unless they are tested.

It is easy to check for changes in your sense of smell and can be done daily from home using simple scented household items such as coffee, lemon, herbs, or foul-smelling cheese. Isolate yourself and get tested for COVID-19 as soon as possible.