Anosmia

No sense of smell, due to loss of the sense of smell or failure for it to develop. Loss of the sense of smell can be due to a number of things including swelling within the nose that prevents odors from gaining access to the olfactory (smell) area. The swelling may be from a cold or allergy. Head trauma is also a cause of anosmia. Failure of the sense of smell to develop is a key feature of a disorder called Kallmann syndrome (Kallmannn syndrome = anosmia + hypogonadism). Most people with anosmia have normal perception of salty, sweet, sour, and bitter substances but they lack flavor discrimination, which is largely dependent on olfaction (smell). Therefore, they often complain of losing the sense of taste (ageusia). Treatment of any bacterial or allergic cause of rhinitis and sinusitis and removal of nasal polyps usually results in recovery of the sense of smell.

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Loss or absense of the sense of smell. It may be: 1, general to all odorants (total), partial to some odorants, or specific to one or more odorants; 2, due to transport disorders (in nasal obstruction) or sensorineural disorders (affecting the olfactory neuroepithelium or the central olfactory neural pathways); or 3, hereditary or acquired. [G. an- priv. + osme, sense of smell]

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an·os·mia a-'näz-mē-ə n loss or impairment of the sense of smell

an·os·mic -mik adj

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n.

absence of the sense of smell. This can be temporary, as with a cold or other forms of rhinitis, or it can be permanent, following certain viral infections, head injuries, and tumours affecting the olfactory nerve. If loss of the sense of smell is partial rather than total, the condition is called hyposmia.

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an·os·mia (an-ozґme-ə) [an-¹ + osm-¹ + -ia] absence of the sense of smell; called also anosphresia and olfactory anesthesia. anosmatic anosmic adj