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Study: Loss of taste and smell are key COVID-19 symptoms

Study: Loss of taste and smell are key COVID-19 symptoms

Loss of of smell and taste may be the key symptoms to tell if you have COVID-19, claims a British study, Reuters reports.

 

A symptom tracker app

 

The research team at King’s College London analyzed data collected via a symptom tracker app developed by British scientists to help monitor the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus.

 

The results, which were posted online but not peer-reviewed, were much stronger in predicting a positive COVID-19 diagnosis than self-reported fever, the researchers said.

 
Of 1.5 million app users between March 24 and March 29, 26% reported one or more symptoms through the app. Of these, 1,702 also reported having been tested for COVID-19, with 579 positive results and 1,123 negative results.

 

60% of patients with these symptoms turned positive

 

Almost 60% of patients who were subsequently confirmed as positive for COVID-19 had reported losing their sense of smell and taste, the data analyzed by the researchers showed.

That compared with 18% of those who tested negative.

 

A mathematical model to identify key combination of symptoms

 

Using all the data collected, the research team developed a mathematical model to identify which combination of symptoms - ranging from loss of smell and taste, to fever, persistent cough, fatigue, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and loss of appetite -was most accurate in predicting COVID-19 infection. 

 

When combined with other symptoms, people with loss of smell and taste appear to be three times more likely to have contracted COVID-19 according to our data, and should therefore self-isolate for seven days to reduce the spread of the disease,” said Tim Spector, a King’s professor who led the study.

 

 

 

 

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