Tongue
(Photo : Oleg Magni from Pexels)

A new coronavirus symptom has floated among the strange symptoms that come with the virus - the "COVID tongue."

The world has been fighting off the pandemic for over a year, and while there have been downward trends in COVID-19 cases, doctors are still finding new symptoms of the disease.

Recent months have had a plethora of reports about the loss of sense of smell and taste among COVID-19 patients, but now, anecdotal reports found a new one called "COVID tongue," reported Yahoo! Life.

CDC recently noted that, as can be seen in the discovery of the COVID tongue, its current list of COVID-19 symptoms does not cover all possible symptoms, reported Market Watch.

Given that this is a relatively new virus, researchers continue their investigations to understand how it spreads correctly.

What is COVID Tongue?

NBC News reported that a British researcher, who was tracking COVID-19 warning signs, found more cases of the "COVID tongue." People who have this symptom complained of tongue discoloration, enlargement, and other mouth problems.

Tim Spector, a genetic epidemiology professor at King's College London, warned people to look out for any strange symptoms in a tweet this month. He said, "If you have a strange symptom or even just headache and fatigue stay at home!" 

Read also: Biden Administration Scrambles to Find 20 Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Unaccounted For

Spector believed that there might be fewer than 1 in 500 patients who have "COVID tongue." According to reports, COVID tongue means someone has a swollen tongue with a scalloped appearance or a "furry surface."

The "furry surface" is often described as the presence of white or yellow coloring that can't be brushed away. This condition can also be painful. Spector estimated that more than a third of COVID-19 patients have unusual symptoms of the disease in the first three days.

He added that it was important to watch out for any of these strange symptoms like skin rashes or "COVID toes" (pseudo-frostbite lesions called pernio or chilblains).

Rashes that could be linked to the coronavirus could range from patches in a person's skin to presenting as blisters that look like chickenpox. 

Research on COVID Tongue Still Limited

Yahoo! Life added in its report that while two studies have analyzed COVID-19 and oral symptoms like the "COVID tongue," neither of them is conclusive.

One came from a group of researchers in Madrid who received 600 COVID-19 patient records and found that one in four of them had some type of reaction in the tongue.

Dr. Almudena Nuño González acknowledged in a press release that their research is still limited. "We found changes in the tongue that until then had not been linked to COVID," Dr. Nuño said.

Related story: Health Care Worker Dies After Second Vaccine Dose, But Family Tells Others to Get Vaccinated

"The tongue is enlarged, it appears swollen, the teeth marks can be seen and ... with small indentations in the back where the taste buds are flattened," she added.

The other report was published in The Egyptian Journal of Otolaryngology last month. But it did not provide much detail about the potential oral symptoms.

Researchers also warned that people should not overlook these kinds of symptoms, and they should see physicians to look into it.