#COVID RASH ON FOOT SKIN#

Study reveals why some people get Covid toe condition. Willyard, C., Are 'COVID toes' actually caused by the coronavirus? Nature, 2022.Visconti, A., et al., Cutaneous Manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection during the Delta and Omicron waves in 348,691 UK users of the UK ZOE COVID Study App.A sign of natural resistance to SARS-CoV-2? Med Hypotheses, 2020. Lipsker, D., A chilblain epidemic during the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2020. Battesti, G., et al., New insights in COVID-19-associated chilblains: a comparative study with chilblain lupus erythematosus.Hughes, M., et al., Further evidence that chilblains are a cutaneous manifestation of COVID-19 infection.Bascuas-Arribas, M., et al., Evolution of incidence of chilblain-like lesions in children during the first year of COVID-19 pandemic.Andina, D., et al., Chilblains in children in the setting of COVID-19 pandemic.

International Journal of Dermatology, 2020.

el-Azhary, R., Re: Chilblain-like lesions on feet and hands during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Landa, N., et al., Chilblain-like lesions on feet and hands during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association, 2020. del Mar Ruiz Herrera, Foot Manifestations in a COVID-19 Positive Patient: A Case Study. Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, 2020. Aldaraji, A case of COVID-19 presenting in clinical picture resembling chilblains disease. Borthwick, The mystery of the COVID toes - turning evidence-based medicine on its head. Bonifazi, A new vasculitis at the time of Covid-19. Of course, further work would be required to prove this but only time will tell.

This concurs with the UK study, which is based on patient reported rates, so potentially reinforces this theory. Of course, this may be down to increased awareness amongst patients not consulting when they observe it or possibly due to the effects of vaccination 14. This has been anecdotally noted in an earlier paper 13 which suggested that the numbers of new chilblains cases being reported to dermatologists is falling to near pre-pandemic rates.

This study suggests that COVID toes may be reducing as new variants of COVID infection emerge. Generally, the type of cutaneous symptoms were similar in both the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, except for the burning rash which was less common after vaccination. The researchers noted that reported acral lesions declined from 3.1% (during the initial wave) to 1.1% (Delta wave) to 0.7% (Omicron wave).

#COVID RASH ON FOOT SKIN#

Skin related symptoms were reported by 17.6% (Delta wave) and 9.6% of participants (Omicron wave) with skin symptoms having a shorter duration in the later wave. The data set consisted of over 348,000 users including nearly 43,000 confirmed COVID infections and 156,000 other (non-related) illnesses. The study app collected patient entered data along with their COVID test status, any reported symptoms and latterly when they had had their vaccination.

A rash accompanied by burning paraesthesia.

They focussed on five common skin manifestations of COVID-19 infection: The researchers particularly wanted to examine and compare skin signs during the Delta and Omicron waves. The study retrospectively examined data collected from the ZOE COVID study app, which was downloaded by the public and recorded patient-reported data throughout the pandemic and subsequent waves. A recent UK based study 12 published in the British Journal of Dermatology investigated the cutaneous manifestations of the COVID-19 infection as new strains emerged.

Gradually, scientific theory began to unravel the mystery 10,11 as the pandemic moved into new waves with the emergence of the alpha, beta, gamma, delta and omicron strains of the virus along with the vaccination programme. Studies of Google searches also highlighted a significant spike in searches related to chilblains in the early part of 2020 9. Following this, a flurry of papers ensued describing cases of chilblains – in excess of the normally expected numbers for a springtime and in previously unaffected and younger populations 3-8. Reports began to emerge in the spring of that year about its cutaneous manifestations including the much-discussed phenomenon of chilblain-like lesions 1 colloquially dubbed “COVID toes” 2. With the onset of the pandemic in January 2020, we began to learn the effects of the COVID-19 virus went well beyond just being a respiratory infection.

Covid rash on foot