{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T16:27:31Z","timestamp":1753892851180,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,9]],"date-time":"2020-12-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1607472000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p><jats:bold>Background:<\/jats:bold> Anosmia has been reported as an early presentation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the pathophysiological mechanism of olfactory dysfunction is still unclear.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Aim:<\/jats:bold> The aim of this study to evaluate the knowledge regarding common symptoms, anosmia, treatment options, and PPE among medical students in three different universities of Saudi Arabia.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Methods:<\/jats:bold> This cross-sectional survey conducted among medical students in Saudi Arabia. Google Forms was used to create the survey. The questionnaire included demographic information, knowledge of COVID-19 symptoms, sources of information, and the level of awareness of specific symptoms (loss of smell and taste).<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Results:<\/jats:bold> A total of 494 students completed the questionnaire. The majority of the participants were aware of common COVID-19 symptoms like fever and cough (79.8 and 67.2%, respectively), but less than half were aware that smell or taste dysfunction might be a symptom of COVID-19 (44.3 and 30.2%, respectively). The present study revealed that the source of information also plays a critical role in medical students' awareness regarding the symptoms of COVID-19. Students using international organization's websites, medical databases, or published research had better knowledge of anosmia as a COVID-19 symptom compared to those who used WhatsApp, Google, or unofficial social media pages. In our study, a minority (11.9%) of the participants relied on unofficial social media pages as the main source of their information.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Conclusion:<\/jats:bold> Saudi medical students understand that smell or taste dysfunction can be a potential symptom of COVID-19, but this knowledge was not as widespread as the knowledge regarding the most common COVID-19 symptoms.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2020.597897","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,12,9]],"date-time":"2020-12-09T07:37:18Z","timestamp":1607499438000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["Medical Students' Awareness of Smell Loss as a Predictor for Coronavirus Disease 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