‘Hidden tongue’ may be another symptom of coronavirus, suggests researcher

There may be another addition to the growing list of possible strange symptoms of the new coronavirus: “Hidden tongue”.

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A British researcher who is helping to track Covid-19’s warning signs is reporting more cases of infected people complaining of tongue discoloration, swelling and other oral problems.

“I see an increasing number of Covid tongues and strange mouth ulcers. If you have a strange symptom or even just a headache and fatigue, stay home! ”Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, tweeted this month.

He believes that more than a third of patients with COVID-19, 35 percent, have non-classic symptoms of the disease in the first three days, so it is important to call attention to skin rashes, covered toes and other warning signs that “Go ignored” He wrote.

Spector did not respond to a request for comment, but other researchers also reported symptoms of tongue and mouth related to the new coronavirus.

When doctors studied 666 patients with Covid – 19 in Spain, more than a tenth of them – 78 – exhibited “oral cavity findings”, according to a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology.

Of this group, 11 percent had inflammation of the small bumps on the surface of the tongue; 6 percent had a swollen and inflamed tongue with indentations in the sides; 6 percent had mouth ulcers; 4 percent had “irregular” areas on the tongue; and 4 percent had tissue swelling in the mouth.

© British Association of Dermatologists
Signs of

The oral cavity “deserves a specific examination in appropriate circumstances to avoid the risk of contagion”, wrote the authors.

Mouth or tongue problems – other than sore throat – do not appear on the list of Covid-19 symptoms compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although the agency recognizes that it is still learning more about the new coronavirus, so the page does not t include all possible warning signs.

After all, the loss of smell and taste seemed a strange symptom at first, but now it is considered one of the common manifestations and is part of the list.

Other sensations not yet confirmed include “effervescence” or a tingling sensation reported by some patients with Covid-19. Will “hidden language” be placed in a similar category?

“This is in line with everything about Covid,” said Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. “When it hit the scene, as I like to say figuratively, we opened our medical books for Covid and there were just blank pages. “

Schaffner has not seen cases of “covid language”, but has heard of it. It may not be that the mouth is vulnerable to the new coronavirus, but that Covid-19 may set up an immunological circumstance in a way that other viruses, such as cold sores – the herpes virus above the waist, or the herpes simplex virus type 1, which causes an infection of the lips, mouth or gums – may perhaps activate, said Schaffner.

Researchers have yet to determine whether problems with the mouth and tongue are in fact related to Covid-19, he added.

“People react differently to different diseases,” said Dr. Waleed Javaid, director of infection prevention and control at Mount Sinai Downtown in New York.

But he would not consider the “covid tongue” as a diagnostic tool for the disease at this point, just because it appears to occur in a very small proportion of people, he noted.

The American Dental Association and the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery were unable to comment immediately if cases of mouth and tongue problems were reported by patients with Covid-19.