For more than a year now, we have continued to learn day after day a little more about COVID-19. Many symptoms have already been identified, but it seems that this is only the start of everything we need to know about this virus. In a study published on 22 March 2021 in the International Journal of Audiology, British scientists shared their results.
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Hearing loss, dizziness, tinnitus...
We all know the main symptoms of COVID-19: fever, cough, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea... But some slightly more specific symptoms have gradually been added to this list, such as loss of taste and smell or the astonishing 'Covid tongue.'
An increasingly long list to which we will probably have to add these three symptoms identified by British scientists. Indeed, they claim to have detected many cases of hearing loss, dizziness and tinnitus. And these would not be isolated cases, as they have found a prevalence in patients of 7.6%, 14.8% and 7.2% respectively.
'Understanding the long-term effects of COVID-19'
In recent months, studies on what is called 'long COVID' have multiplied and have made it possible to understand that the health consequences of a bout of COVID-19 extend well beyond acute infection, even among those who've only suffered a mild illness. This new study on hearing loss, dizziness and tinnitus goes in this direction.
Thus, the researchers assured that 'it is urgent to start a careful clinical study to understand the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the hearing system.' Particularly because we know that other viruses such as measles or mumps can cause hearing loss.
What we really need are studies that compare COVID-19 cases with controls, such as patients admitted to the hospital for other health problems.
