This COVID symptom is a serious mouthful.
Strange symptoms are nothing new to coronavirus. Since the pandemic shut down much of the world last March, uncommon symptoms associated with the unpredictable respiratory illness have cropped up, including foot sores, low oxygen levels and a tingly sensation throughout the body known as “fizzing.”
Now, doctors have identified a symptom referred to as “COVID tongue” in some patients.
A letter published in the British Journal of Dermatology says a notable number of patients have experienced inflammation and swelling on their tongues, among other strange bumps, reports Health.
The finding was based on an analysis of 666 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in Spain, nearly half of whom exhibited some symptoms on parts of the where skin and mucous membranes meet, referred to as mucocutaneous symptoms.
How does COVID tongue manifest?
Of the group with mucocutaneous symptoms, 25% exhibited symptoms in the mouth that included inflamed bumps as well as redness and swelling of the tongue.
Some of these patients experienced the symptoms alongside others like a burning sensation in the mouth, and the more commonly displayed loss of taste.
What causes it?
The cause of COVID tongue results from the way that the virus itself on your cells. The virus that causes coronavirus — SARS-CoV-2 — triggers a response on the ACE receptors, an enzyme that is prominent in the mouth.
“There are a lot of ACE receptors in the tongue, so the virus concentrates very heavily in this region,” said infectious disease field physician Rajeev Fernando, MD.
“In the tongue, there can be a lot of COVID," which can lead to inflamed swelling and bumps, he told Health.
While COVID tongue was recently noticed in this isolated cluster, experts say it’s not uncommon as a general symptom of multiple viruses.
“A number of viruses can cause mucocutaneous manifestations,” Thomas Russo, MD, professor and chief of infectious disease at the University at Buffalo in New York, told the outlet.
“All of these oral and mucocutaneous manifestations tend to be nonspecific,” he added, saying tongue symptoms “could increase your suspicion for coronavirus infection, it's likely that other symptoms would trigger that diagnostic pathway.”
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