Loss of taste due to corona viruses in the mouth?

A new study detects corona viruses in the mouth

A team of British and American researchers wrote in Nature Medicine Results of a new study Chest. The newspaper rzteblatt reported about this in its online version. Accordingly, corona viruses can also be found in the mouth: SARS-CoV-2 can do this It affects the cells of the oral mucosa and salivary glands It also occurs in people without symptoms. According to scientists led by Blake Warner of the US National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, this may also be a cause of oral symptoms such as the loss of the usual taste in COVID-19.

Does SARS-CoV-2 not spread in the nasopharynx?

So now it’s supposed to Virus spread through the nasopharynx For this reason, swabs are also taken here to detect infection with corona. Here however Also a high percentage of viruses in saliva Detected, you can now provide additional evidence via sputum or saliva tests. This prompted researchers to investigate more closely.

Oral tissue analysis for COVID-19 in two steps

First the scholars took Tissues of healthy people Under the microscope: Here they were looking for the building blocks that enable viruses to penetrate into cells in the first place – the proteins ACE2 and TMPRSS2. They found out what they were looking for in both the oral mucosa and the salivary glands.

Then in the second step Samples from corona patients or deceased Analyze it. Also here, they discovered the SARS-CoV-2 genes. The smaller glands in particular became infected, and the researchers were also able to detect the inflammation.

Another lab test also found that People without symptoms transmit the virus through their saliva ability. In people who have been tested without symptoms, coronaviruses have been found in saliva for up to three and a half weeks – in some cases they could have been detected for longer than a throat swab.

Are corona viruses in the mouth the cause of loss of taste?

The team suspected that oral symptoms, such as loss of taste or dry mouth, might occur in Corona patients It is explained by injury to the oral cavity Allow. Scientists have also drawn conclusions about the spread in the body, as study participant Kevin M. Bird explains: “If you swallow infected saliva or inhale small particles of it, it is possible that SARS-CoV-2 will persist in the throat, lungs, or even in the intestine.”

More studies of oral coronaviruses must now be pursued in order to obtain more accurate information – for example about the relationship with loss of taste – and to develop new strategies to reduce virus transmission.

Inflated:
SARS-CoV-2 infection in the oral cavity and saliva In: nature.com
SARS-CoV-2: viruses detected in the salivary glands (also in people without symptoms) In: aerzteblatt.de
Coronaviruses attack cells in the mouth In: n-tv.de