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The “hairy tongue”, pins and needles and toe of Covid are some annoying but genuine manifestations of the coronavirus.
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By Dani Blum
At this point in the pandemic’s long task, many others are experiencing the telltale symptoms of a COVID-19 infection: abnormal sore throat, pernicious cough, congestion, fever, and total body exhaustion. But a small subset of other people also expands on the less common symptoms, the ones that would possibly look like hexagons from a children’s story: hairy tongues, purple toes, expanding marks on their faces.
“Every infectious disease has no unusual and infrequent manifestations,” said Dr. Mark Mulligan, an infectious disease specialist at NYU Langone Health. Rare symptoms, but until then, are largely speculation.
Confusing symptoms have been a part of covid since the beginning of the pandemic: loss of taste and smell is a worrying symptom of the disease. Covid also has the potential to disrupt menstrual cycles, a side effect that some women have also reported after vaccination. .
A study of more than 60,000 people who tested positive for covid and reported their symptoms found that a small percentage experienced ringing in the ears, eye pain, rashes, red marks on the face or lips, hair loss, and rare joint pain. Wider research of more than 600,000 people in Britain showed that a fraction of other people with covid also developed red sores and blisters on their feet and body numbness, among other illnesses.
Doctors don’t know why only some other people develop those rare symptoms. Genetics may play a role, Dr. Mulligan said; The prestige of vaccination may also have something to do with this, as an unvaccinated user may have a more severe infection, which can lead to another course of symptoms. Scientists have also found that the coronavirus can enter the bloodstream in a minority of other Friends, he said, meaning it’s conceivable that the virus can only enter various organs in the frame and cause symptoms beyond the respiratory system.
Antiviral remedies like Paxlovid can relieve symptoms like a covid-related rash, because they can decrease the amount of virus in the blood, Dr. Stuart said. Kelly Gebo, infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins Medicine. But it’s not clear whether those symptoms are directly caused by the virus or the body’s reaction to it.
Inflammation may also be a culprit, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. If the virus enters the bloodstream and affects multiple parts of the body, immune cells flock to those areas. This means that an ear, for example, that the virus would not affect regularly, can become inflamed, not work as well, and potentially hurt.
Covid also leaves patients in a weakened state, he said, persistent pathogens around their bodies from past infections, such as herpes or the virus that causes shingles, can reactivate, causing bloodless rashes or sores as a result of Covid.
A third theory is that the stress that can accompany a COVID-19 infection — midlife anxiety, loss of income, long-term fitness implications — can also cause symptoms like hair loss and hives, Dr. Chin-Hong said.
Each of those symptoms, when related to covid, usually goes away within a few weeks, without treatment, he added. And there are no set rules for how doctors treat them, Dr. Gebo said. “We have definitive rules about how to treat shortness of breath,” he said, “but we don’t have definitive rules about it. “
Here’s what we know about the reasons and remedies for some of those symptoms.
Healthy tongue cells update each other quickly, Dr. Chin-Hong said, but if older cells persist and overlap, they shape a dark, thick, fuzzy proliferation, known as a hairy tongue. Even before Covid, doctors were seeing patients with tongue hair linked to viral infections, smoking, antibiotic use and poor hygiene, he said, adding: “It’s not more unusual than other people think. “
“I know it sounds scary to other people,” he said, but the grief is usually temporary. Other people may also feel a burning sensation in their mouth. Those with this symptom deserve not to be “panicked,” Dr. Chin. People with hairy tongues can use a tongue scraper or toothbrush to scrape those tongue cells, and they can make sure to practice smart oral hygiene to prevent further buildup.
In rare cases, other people with covid can also develop thrush, otherwise known as oral thrush, which occurs when a fungus infects the mouth. It has been linked to a weakened immune formula or the use of antibiotics, Dr. Chin-Hong said. Doctors regularly diagnose thrush by examining white lesions that may germinate on the cheek, tongue, or mouth. Treatment is regularly 10 to 14 days with an antifungal medication.
When other people expand the tingling sensation in their skin, it’s possibly because their nerves become inflamed through immune cells as they fight infection, Dr. Chin-Hong said. It’s also conceivable that the virus itself can also damage peripheral nerves, such as those that pass into the hands and feet, Dr. Gebo said; This also occurs with shingles infection.
“What we don’t know is what the direct effect of the virus itself is, or what the inflammation is,” he said. “These are things we’re trying to understand. “
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis found that other people who tested positive for covid were three times more likely to report pain, tingling and numbness in their hands and feet than those who tested negative.
For many people, this tingling sensation goes away within a few days, Dr. Brown said. Gebo. Si patients are in pain, he added, they consult their doctor, who would possibly recommend taking Tylenol or Motrin.
People with persistent nerve pain, even after recovering from the virus, see their doctor, said Dr. Marc Sala, co-director of Northwestern’s Comprehensive Center for Covid-19 Medicine.
It’s well established that viruses can lead to rashes, Dr. Sala said, noting that he had noticed a wide variety of skin problems in covid patients. skin patterns and raised bumps as possible Covid-related skin conditions. If you develop a rash that persists after your recovery from Covid, Dr. Sala recommends consulting a dermatologist.
Any kind of physical or emotional strain can cause your hair to fall out, Dr. Brown said. Shilpi Khetarpal, a dermatologist at the Cleveland Clinic, enjoyed hair loss, said. If you’re among those losing hair or after a covid infection, don’t panic, he said, adding: “It’s not a scar, it’s coming back. He just wants time. “
Scientists are still conflicting over the reasons for “Covid toe,” the rash and frostbite-like blisters that form on other people’s feet and hands after infection, causing swelling and purpura on the feet and fingertips. One theory is that other people with Covid would likely revel in microvascular clots, which occur in the smallest blood vessels in their body and block the blood supply, causing this discoloration, Dr. Sala said.
Patients who expand a toe from covid regularly do so during the acute phase of an infection, he added, and symptoms tend to disappear soon after. The Association of the American Academy of Dermatology recommends using a hydrocortisone cream to treat it. , no matter how annoying it is, the swelling resolves itself regularly, for reasons that doctors are completely sure of.
“We’re still learning about Covid,” Dr. Mulligan said. “We don’t perceive everything.
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