If you still insisting on going out and partying at the beach with surround sound, this article might just change your mind.
Because Covid-19 isn’t going to come to visit and leave without leaving any trace.
Just like your uncle who leaves his peanut shells lying around when he goes home, Covid-19 might just leave a more lasting impression than you’d expected.
New Study Shows 13% of Recovered COVID-19 Patients Had Some Form of Hearing Loss
Most Covid-19 cases are asymptomatic cases (mild or no symptoms). But there are some patients who needs to be admitted into the hospital to recover from the virus.
And these patients are the people some researchers are interested in.
The folks in the University of Manchester in England set out to survey 121 Covid-19 patients who have recovered eight weeks after they were discharged from the hospital.
Their goal?
To find out if there are any lingering complications left behind by the coronavirus.
Here’s what they found: 16 (13.2%) complained that they’ve experienced some effects to their hearing
- Eight said they have some hearing loss
- The remaining eight said they developed “tinnitus”, a condition which leads to ringing, whooshing or buzzing in their ears.
It was revealed whether the remaining 105 individuals reported any other symptoms like lethargy or even heart problems.
Viruses Can Damage Nerves
Then, you’re wondering, was the former patients just caught on a bad day? Maybe they haven’t dug their ears yet.
According to Professor Kevin Munro, the study of the author, viruses like “measles, mumps and meningitis” can cause hearing loss.
Coronaviruses, he added, has the ability to damage nerves responsible for carrying information to and from the brain.
In theory, it is entirely possible that Covid-19 can “cause problems with parts of the auditory system including the middle ear or cochlea”.
However, the researchers behind this study stressed that further research is needed before the link between Covid-19 and hearing loss can be established.
Other Factors That Could Contribute To This Phenomenon
The researchers behind this study aren’t discounting the fact that other factors might have led to “hearing loss”.
For one, it could be the medication that was prescribed to help the patient recover from Covid-19 that could damage the ears.
It could just be the stress of the entire situation.
In fact, it could even be the fact that people are wearing masks, which makes their voices muffled and hard to hear, leading the person thinking they have hearing loss.
Whichever it is, Professor Munro is of the opinion that the link should be studied further so that the decision-makers can make the right choice.
Loss Of Hearing & Smell
In case you didn’t know, Covid-19 can lead to the loss of hearing and smell.
According to new data collected by British scientists, losing your sense of taste and smell is one of the best ways to tell if you have COVID-19.
They collected data through a symptom tracker app, and the results showed that almost 60% of patients who tested positive for COVID-19 had reported losing their sense of smell and taste, compared to 18% who tested negative.
These results suggest that the loss of these senses is a lot stronger in predicting a positive COVID-19 diagnosis than self-reported fever, said the researchers at King’s College London.
Out of 1.5 million users between 24 Mar and 29 Mar, 26% of them reported one or more symptoms of COVID-19 through the app.
1,702 of them also reported having been tested for COVID-19, with 579 positive results and 1,123 negative results.
Among those who had tested positive, 59% reported a loss of smell or taste.
Now, the folks in the UK recommends that people who lost their sense of taste and smell isolate but that’s because, during the time of the study, UK wasn’t offering Covid-19 tests in the country.
In Singapore, however, if you realise you’ve lost your sense of taste and smell, please refer yourself to the nearest clinic and take a Covid-19 swab test.
Our community cases have been dropping for the past week and we can only keep this streak when everyone does their part.
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