Perception and Memory Unit, National Center for Scientific Research, Joint Research Unit 3571, Université Paris Cité, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
Department of Neurology, University Hospital of Guadeloupe, Faculty of Medicine of the University of the West Indies, West Indies Guyana Clinical Investigation Center, Inserm CIC 1424, Sorbonne Université Faculty of Medicine, National Institute of Health and Medical Research, U 1127, National Center for Scientific Research, Joint Research Unit 7225, Paris Brain Institute, Paris, France.
Eur J Neurol. 2022 Sep;29(9):2823-2831. doi: 10.1111/ene.15444. Epub 2022 Jun 30.
Zika virus (ZIKV) infection has been associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). However, little is known about the consequence of ZIKV infection on olfaction in humans.
Immediately before the COVID-19 outbreak, we prospectively investigated the olfactory capacities of 19 patients with ZIKV-associated GBS from the French West Indies and compared them to nine controls from the same population, with GBS of similar severity but independent of ZIKV infection. To provide further evidence that ZIKV infection induces smell alteration, we investigated the consequences of ZIKV infection on olfactory abilities using a mouse model.
Patients with GBS-ZIKA+ had poorer olfactory function than GBS-non-ZIKA, even 1-2 years after the acute phase. The proportion of patients with hyposmia was significantly higher in the GBS-ZIKA+ than in the GBS-non-ZIKA group (68.4% vs. 22.2%, p = 0.042). These deficits were characterized by lower threshold and identification scores and were independent from GBS severity. Additionally, ZIKV infection was found to impair olfaction in immunodeficient mice infected with ZIKV. High viral load was observed in their olfactory system and downstream brain structures. ZIKV promoted both cellular damage in the olfactory neuroepithelium and protracted inflammation of the olfactory bulb, likely accounting for smell alteration.
Patients with ZIKV-related GBS had poorer long-term olfactory function than patients with GBS-non-ZIKA, and ZIKV-infected mice are hyposmic. These observations suggest that ZIKV belongs on the list of viruses affecting the olfactory system. Clinical evaluation of the olfactory system should be considered for ZIKV-infected patients.
寨卡病毒（ZIKV）感染与吉兰-巴雷综合征（GBS）有关。然而，人们对 ZIKV 感染对人类嗅觉的影响知之甚少。
在 COVID-19 爆发之前，我们前瞻性地调查了来自法属西印度群岛的 19 例 ZIKV 相关 GBS 患者的嗅觉能力，并将其与来自同一人群的 9 例 GBS 非 ZIKV 感染对照进行了比较，这些对照患者的 GBS 严重程度相似，但与 ZIKV 感染无关。为了提供进一步的证据表明 ZIKV 感染会导致嗅觉改变，我们使用小鼠模型研究了 ZIKV 感染对嗅觉能力的影响。
即使在急性期后 1-2 年，GBS-ZIKA+患者的嗅觉功能也比 GBS-非 ZIKA 患者差。GBS-ZIKA+患者的嗅觉减退患者比例明显高于 GBS-非 ZIKA 组（68.4%比 22.2%，p=0.042）。这些缺陷的特征是阈值和识别评分较低，且与 GBS 严重程度无关。此外，我们发现 ZIKV 感染会损害感染 ZIKV 的免疫缺陷小鼠的嗅觉。他们的嗅觉系统和下游脑结构中观察到高病毒载量。ZIKV 既促进了嗅觉神经上皮细胞的细胞损伤，又促进了嗅球的持续炎症，这可能是嗅觉改变的原因。
与 ZIKV 相关的 GBS 患者的长期嗅觉功能比 GBS 非 ZIKA 患者差，感染 ZIKV 的小鼠嗅觉减退。这些观察结果表明，ZIKV 属于影响嗅觉系统的病毒之列。应考虑对 ZIKV 感染患者进行嗅觉系统的临床评估。
