At the onset of the development of Covid19 virus, believed by many to have similar effects as MERS and SARS. More specifically, they thought the virus would cause acute respiratory syndrome. However, over time, it became clear that a wide range of symptoms, such as oral symptoms of Covid19, skin changes, gastrointestinal, neurological, renal symptoms and more may be related to the virus.
Are oral symptoms of Covid19 the onset of the disease?
Covid19 causes many symptoms, and since there are a large number of patients with the disease, the diagnosis is usually according to clinical findings and conjecture. For instance, a 45-year-old woman has an irregular sore on the back of her tongue. The disease begins with painful inflammation of the tongue papillae and eventually turns into an irregular, asymptomatic sore. Ten days later, the wound has healed without leaving any scars.
A skin lesion developed on the patient’s big toe on the third day after the appearance of oral lesion. Moreover, the lesion was painful for 48 hours and then became asymptomatic. The patient shows signs of mild lethargy. According to the general condition of the patient and the lesions shown in the mouth and skin, on the eighth day, the patient gave a throat test of Covid19. The result of the corona test was positive.
Although this patient was referred to a dermatologist, the association between oral lesions and corona has not yet been established. Covid19 virus causes inflammatory reactions and vascular inflammation. Furthermore, erythematous rash may be an inflammatory reaction. Hence, irregular mouth ulcers may be considered a sign of the onset of corona. Nevertheless, to get a final answer once and for all more studies are needed to confirm this.
Vesiculobullous lesions associated with SARS-COV-2 infection
In this case, a study has been performed on three patients in Spain. Some patients have symptoms like fever and lethargy, olfactory dysfunction, and swelling of the cervical lymph nodes. Another symptom of these patients was pain in the palate and throat.
Given the study of these patients, this virus may cause lesions, similar to other common viral lesions in the oral cavity.
Oral Symptoms, Salivary Glands, and Saliva of Covid19 Infection
In a study on patients with positive results for Covid19 test, their saliva and salivary glands were investigated. In this study, decreased salivation was one of the common findings in these patients. These symptoms are often attributed to medication or psychological health problems. Dry mouth is common in a large percentage of patients with Covid19. Since saliva contains high levels of antiviral compounds, decreased saliva raises the risk of developing COVID19. It is interesting to know that saliva secretion naturally decreases as the patient ages, increasing the risk of corona in people over 50 years of age.
Impaired Sense of Taste
اDecreased taste sensitivity is observed in most patients with corona. Corona patients presented with symptoms such as influenza had an impaired sense of smell and taste in 67% of cases.
The relationship between oral lesions and Covid 19
With there being physicians who believe and don’t believe that Covid19 is directly associated with oral lesions, some studies have considered it so. Furthermore, there is a possibility of oral tissues being a susceptible tissue to Covid19 infection due to their ACE2 receptors. In this specific case, one study has found that salivary gland cells and tonsils had the highest levels of RNA attached to a protein employed by SARS-Covid19 to infect cells compared to all the other oral tissues.