INTERFERON-INDUCED ANOSMIA IN A PATIENT WITH CHRONIC HEPATITIS C

• Published in: The American journal of gastroenterology Vol. 93; no. 1; pp. 122 - 123
• Main Authors: MARUYAMA, S, HIRAYAMA, C, KADOWAKI, Y, SAGAYAMA, A, OMURA, H, NAKAMOTO, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing 01.01.1998
• Subjects: Acuity; Antiviral Agents - administration & dosage; Antiviral Agents - adverse effects; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Glucose - analysis; Drug toxicity and drugs side effects treatment; Glucose Tolerance Test; Hepatitis C virus; Hepatitis C, Chronic - therapy; Humans; Interferon-alpha - administration & dosage; Interferon-alpha - adverse effects; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Olfaction Disorders - chemically induced; Olfaction Disorders - diagnosis; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Time Factors; Toxicity: respiratory system, ent, stomatology; Human; Nervous system diseases; Cytokine; Anosmia; Hepatic disease; Infection; Case study; Treatment; Etiology; Viral disease; Laboratory investigations; Digestive diseases; Complication; Interferon; Neurological disorder; Viral hepatitis C
• ISSN: 0002-9270; 1572-0241
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1572-0241.1998.122_c.x

We report a patient with chronic active hepatitis C developing acute anosmia during interferon (IFN) therapy. On July 31, he began receiving 6 MU of IFN-alpha daily. On September 26, he failed to smell gas leaking from a gas cooker, so IFN therapy was discontinued. He showed no reaction on a standard olfactory acuity test. As the patient had borderline diabetes, the association of anosmia with impaired glucose tolerance cannot completely be excluded, but his anosmia was probably induced by IFN therapy, since anosmia developed 10 days after the initiation of the IFN therapy, without any deterioration of his glucose intolerance.