Editorial- July 2022
People without perception of smell is known to be devoid of life as mentioned in Charak Indriyasthana 4/21. Does it indicate death or it is merely taken for inability to enjoy life? The Hindu, 24th March 2021 highlighted a case of chef who lost her sense of smell 30 years before, but still enjoying her life. Rare cases of congenital anosmia are also reported in Kallmann syndrome and Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS). Life-expectancy is not affected in Kallmann syndrome, whereas 25% people of BBS die before 44 years as noted by O’dea et al. (1996). Miyamoto and others (2010) revealed the olfactory dysfunction (including anosmia) in idiopathic rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder.
Olfactory dysfunction is connected to hindrance of odorants reaching to olfactory receptors in olfactory epithe...