Loss of smell, taste no longer predominant COVID symptoms as virus continues to mutate

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BOSTON -- As the coronavirus continues to mutate, the symptoms reported by patients with COVID are changing as well.

A recent survey of 17,500 patients in the United Kingdom found that the loss of taste and smell were no longer predominant symptoms of COVID while sore throat, dry cough, headache, and stuffy nose were the most common.

Fewer patients reported high fever, shortness of breath, and loss of taste with the Omicron variant compared to the Alpha and Delta variants.

Loss of smell was reported by about half of COVID patients earlier in the pandemic but only ranked 20th in this survey.

However, anecdotally, some doctors are reporting an increase in patients reporting loss of smell with the newer BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants.

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Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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