Rodríguez-Sevilla, Juan JoséGüerri Fernández, RobertoBertran-Recasens, Bernat2022-11-042022-11-042022Rodriguez-Sevilla JJ, Güerri-Fernádez R, Bertran Recasens B. Is there less alteration of smell sensation in patients with omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant infection?. Front Med (Lausanne). 2022 Apr 12; 9: 852998. DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2022.8529982296-858Xhttp://hdl.handle.net/10230/54689The ongoing pandemic Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a matter of global concern in terms of public health Within the symptoms secondary to SARS-CoV-2 infection, hyposmia and anosmia have emerged as characteristic symptoms during the onset of the pandemic. Although many researchers have investigated the etiopathogenesis of this phenomenon, the main cause is not clear. The appearance of the new variant of concern Omicron has meant a breakthrough in the chronology of this pandemic, presenting greater transmissibility and less severity, according to the first reports. We have been impressed by the decrease in anosmia reported with this new variant and in patients reinfected or who had received vaccination before becoming infected. Based on the literature published to date, this review proposes different hypotheses to explain this possible lesser affectation of smell. On the one hand, modifications in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein could produce changes in cell tropism and interaction with proteins that promote virus uptake (ACE-2, TMPRSS2, and TMEM16F). These proteins can be found in the sustentacular cells and glandular cells of the olfactory epithelium. Second, due to the characteristics of the virus or previous immunity (infection or vaccination), there could be less systemic or local inflammation that would generate less cell damage in the olfactory epithelium and/or in the central nervous system.application/pdfengCopyright © 2022 Rodriguez-Sevilla, Güerri-Fernádez and Bertran Recasens. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2022.852998COVID-19Omicron variantAnosmiaInflammationVaccinesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess