Physiological plausibility of lower viral load in patients with COVID-19 and olfactory/gustatory dysfunction

Chia Siang Kow, Dinesh Sangarran Ramachandram, Syed Shahzad Hasan

Research output: Contribution to journalLetterpeer-review

Abstract

We read with interest the retrospective cohort study by Taziki Balajelini et al. [1], which investigated the relationship between viral load and the incidences of olfactory dysfunction (OD) and gustatory dysfunction (GD) in patients with COVID-19. In the study, the authors observed a significantly higher (p=0.001) mean cycle threshold (Ct) value of RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 between patients with (28.13±4.55) and without OD (26.91±4.49). The Ct values of the RT-PCR test for SARS-CoV-2 correlate inversely with the viral load, where low Ct values indicate high viral loads and vice versa; therefore, the findings of the study suggest a lower viral load in patients with OD.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)397-398
Number of pages2
JournalClinical Otolaryngology
Volume47
Issue number2
Early online date29 Nov 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2022

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