Interferon-induced anosmia in a patient with chronic hepatitis C

We report a patient with chronic active hepatitis C developing acute anosmia during interferon (IFN) therapy. On July 31, he bagan receiving 6 MU of IFN-α 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 ol...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe American journal of gastroenterology Vol. 93; no. 1; pp. 122 - 123
Main Authors Maruyama, Shigeo, Hirayama, Chisato, Kadowaki, Yoshiro, Sagayama, Atsushi, Omura, Hideshi, Nakamoto, Masanori
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Inc 1998
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Summary:We report a patient with chronic active hepatitis C developing acute anosmia during interferon (IFN) therapy. On July 31, he bagan receiving 6 MU of IFN-α 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.
ISSN:0002-9270
1572-0241
DOI:10.1016/S0002-9270(98)80005-1