Although COVID-19 cases are starting to decline in the U.S., millions are still battling the virus – and struggling to filter its symptoms in the process. In recent months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have added new symptoms to their information page, including loss of smell / taste and congestion. But now anecdotal reports have released a new one, which has earned the nickname “COVID language”.
The reports, many posted on Facebook, describe symptoms such as a swollen tongue, another with a jagged appearance or a “hairy surface” of the tongue. Still, experts at COVID-19 say it is too early to link them. So what’s really going on? Here’s what you need to know.
Some patients on social media say they have experienced reactions in the language
In the Survivor Corps group of COVID-19 on Facebook, a popular organization of COVID-19 patients, many shared oral symptoms that they said coincided with their positive test for coronavirus. Carol Van Der Spuy, marketing manager in Cape Town, South Africa, said she noticed the symptoms when she tested positive for COVID-19 a second time. “I had great patches [my tongue] that were a different color, ”she says. “It almost looks like it was ‘burned’.”
New Yorker Martha Barrera says she developed symptoms two weeks after receiving COVID-19 in March. “My tongue has swelled,” she told Yahoo Life. “It was painful and very sensitive and I couldn’t tolerate anything cold or hot. It was also white … no matter how many times I brushed it, the color was different. The doctor didn’t know what to do, so he prescribed thrush medicine for three weeks. Ten months later, my tongue swells out of nowhere. I still have problems. “
Little research suggests that symptoms are related to COVID-19
Two small studies looked at COVID-19 and oral symptoms, none of them conclusive. One comes from researchers at the La Paz hospital in Madrid, who reviewed the records of more than 600 patients with COVID-19 and found that 25% of them had some kind of reaction on their tongue. “We found changes in the language that until then had not been linked to Covid,” said Dr. Almudena Nuño González in a press release. “The tongue is dilated, it looks swollen, the teeth marks can be seen and … with small indentations in the back, where the taste buds are flattened.”
Another report was published in The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology in mid-January, but contained less details about the potential symptoms. In it, the researchers simply said that the symptoms should not be forgotten. “It is fundamental for ENT [ear, nose and throat] physicians must have a high level of suspicion to identify COVID 19 patients with atypical presentations, ”write the authors.
US experts say they have not seen the reaction
According to several experts who spoke to Yahoo Life, there is insufficient evidence at this point to connect the language symptoms to COVID-19. Experts at the Mount Sinai Health System Post-COVID Care Center – the first recovery center for survivors in the U.S. – have not seen a “single case” involving the COVID language among the “thousands of patients” being treated.
Doctors at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center agreed, saying that language reactions are also not a condition they are treating. “I can’t say that I found something like that, and it’s not something that we discussed as a group,” said Dr. Jeffrey Horowitz, professor of medicine and director of the lung, intensive care and sleep medicine division.
An otolaryngologist says that the symptoms may not be related
Dr. Nina Shapiro, director of pediatric ear, nose and throat at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital and professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, says none of the symptoms described in the studies are uncommon, which means they may be occurring for other reasons. “Some of these people have [these symptoms] anyway, and why are they being followed so closely, are they meeting? ” she asks. “This is difficult to know.”
She notes that oral symptoms can be caused by things like the common cold or other illnesses, as well as reactions to certain drugs that weaken the immune system, such as steroids. Dexamethasone, a corticosteroid, has been identified as an “effective” treatment for COVID-19.
The symptoms themselves are less mysterious than they appear
Shapiro breaks down exactly what is happening in the study’s strange descriptions. “Some of these photos [in the studies] it resembles what is called a ‘geographical language’, which makes the language look like a map with small islands and whitish discoloration ”, she says. “It has been linked to colds and other types of illness, but it is not a worrying condition in itself.” The Mayo Clinic describes the geographical tongue as “an inflammatory but harmless condition that affects the surface of the tongue”.
Sores or other sores on the tongue could be a sign of another infection, she says. “Tongue injuries, like ulcers, can be associated with viral diseases,” she says. “It could be due to a secondary viral infection, like herpes, or other types of viruses that grow in the mouth and throat, like Coxsackievirus. So there can certainly be a viral association. “
A woolly-looking tongue, says Shapiro, is probably candida. “The hairy tongue, where it almost looks like a shag rug, is usually just a fungal infection,” she says. “If your immune system is weakened for any reason – which may just be due to stress itself or some of the treatments they are using – then you can develop secondary infections, like candida in the mouth.”
And the cut-out appearance? There is also nothing to worry about. “Some irregularity at the edges of the tongue can be of many things,” she says. “Many of the patients described [in the studies] had pneumonia, so they may have been intubated or with oxygen and severely dehydrated or congested. “
Overall, says Shapiro, oral questions are usually secondary and not the “main problem”. They are also probably not related to the loss of smell and taste, which originate from the olfactory nerves. So in addition to antifungal drugs or other targeted drugs, she says, the best way to deal with them is to get rid of the underlying infection. “They must resolve themselves as soon as the disease resolves.”
To latest coronavirus news and updates, go together on https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus. According to experts, people over 60 and immunocompromised remain the most at risk. If you have questions, consult the CDC’s and Who is it resource guides.
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Originally published