Rash on COVID’s tongue, mouth ulcers may be symptoms of coronavirus

• Some people infected with the coronavirus may have “COVID language”.
• The condition may involve painful skin rash, swelling or discoloration on the patients’ tongues.
• A UK researcher says it is essential to call attention to “non-classic” coronavirus symptoms, such as the COVID language, that are not on official public health lists.
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As the pandemic progresses, experts increasingly identify symptoms that could indicate a coronavirus infection.

According to a UK researcher, the “COVID language” should be added to this growing list.

“Seeing an increasing number of COVID languages ​​and strange mouth ulcers,” Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King’s College London, tweeted earlier this month.

The “COVID tongue” may involve swelling, painful rash, or notches on the sides of the tongue.

Spector later told NBC News that he has also heard of patients with a white or yellow “furry cape” on their tongue.

—Tim Spector (@timspector) January 13, 2021

More research is needed to confirm whether the “COVID language” can be a reliable test for coronavirus infection, Spector said, adding that very few people – less than one in 500 cases – have this symptom.

Oral ulcers are also among the “frequently involved” symptoms in COVID-19 cases

Several studies published last fall suggest that symptoms of the “COVID tongue” also include ulcers.

Researchers in the Czech Republic have documented 26 cases of people with mild or moderate COVID-19 who developed painful tongue ulcers between April and June.

Ulcers are open wounds or cracks in the skin; Czech scientists found up to seven ulcers half a centimeter long in each patient, usually on the sides of the tongue. Following the prescription of mouthwash, patients’ ulcers disappeared after one to two weeks.

Costfoto / Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Other findings from Spain suggested that problems related to the mouth and tongue are “frequently involved” in the cases of COVID-19 and deserve further examination.

That study, published in the British Journal of Dermatology, found that a quarter of the 666 coronavirus patients who were ill with mild or moderate COVID-19 in a Madrid field hospital between April 10 and April 25 had problems with their mouth or tongue .

Some of the patients developed rashes on the top of the tongue, grooves on the sides of the tongue or lost some of the papillae – the small bumps that give our tongue a rough texture and help us taste it.

Others developed mouth ulcers or swollen their tongues.

An August study in Brazil documented eight cases of coronavirus that involved mouth ulcers and yellow, white and red sores on the patient’s lips and gums.

‘Non-classic’ symptoms of COVID-19 tend to be ignored

Neither the UK National Health System nor the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report “COVID language” as a symptom of coronavirus.

Sore throat and loss of taste are the only mouth-related problems listed, although the CDC says its list “does not include all possible symptoms”.

But 20% of people have less common symptoms that are not on the official list, said Spector.

COVID-19’s “non-classic symptoms” tend to be ignored, including COVID’s tongue, rashes and “COVID toes,” he added.

Some coronavirus patients report scaly rashes on their feet and swollen, purple toes that appear to have been frozen – a condition that doctors have dubbed “COVID toes”.

Other patients – particularly those with long-term symptoms – reported other skin problems, including hives, itchy lesions and rashes all over their bodies.

Courtesy of Dr. Lindy Fox

Mouth ulcers are a common symptom of other viruses, such as hand, foot and mouth disease and herpes. Therefore, dentists who frequently examine people’s mouth and tongue have been aware of these symptoms in their patients during the pandemic.

The American Dental Association (ADA) told NBC News that the study published in the British Journal of Dermatology is in line with what it heard from colleagues and partners about the mouth and tongue of patients with coronavirus.

“Oral health is an important and vital part of general health, and the ADA continues to examine the connection between the two with regard to COVID-19,” the association told NBC in a statement.