Coronaviurus: New study shines more light on 'Covid toes' symptom

Patients' toes become swollen and turn a red or purple colour
April Roach @aprilroach2829 October 2020

People infected with coronavirus may end up developing a chilblain-like inflammation on their feet that could cause their toes to turn a purple colour, scientists have said.

Research by the International League of Dermatological Societies and the American Academy of Dermatology found some patients had a symptom known as Covid toes.

The condition typically develops within a week to four weeks of being infected and can result in patients' toes becoming swollen or changing colour, sometimes lasting for months at a time.

Covid toes is said to mostly cause mild symptoms with patients' feet returning to normal within weeks for the majority of cases.

Scientists also discovered that about one in six people require hospital treatment, while some of those with “long Covid” symptoms report cases lasting for several months.

“It seems there is a certain sub-group of patients that, when they get Covid, they develop inflammation in their toes, which turns them red and swollen, and then they eventually turn purple," said Dr Esther Freeman, principal investigator of the International Covid-19 Dermatology Registry, the collaboration between the two research bodies.

“In most cases, it is self-resolved and it goes away. It is relatively mild.

Coronavirus infecting a cell - In pictures

1/7

“It lasts on average about 15 days. But we have seen patients lasting a month or two months.”

She told the PA news agency: “What is very surprising is when you get beyond that 60-day mark – because it’s not like patients are resolving at day 70.

“It’s the fact that some of our patients are at over 150 days now – these are patients with red or purple or swollen toes for many months.”

About half of the patients in the registry are reported to have Covid toes and about 16 per cent of those had to be hospitalised as a result, the figures suggest.

Dr Freeman said the identification of people with Covid toes symptoms – including some in the UK – helps scientists understand more about coronavirus related symptoms elsewhere in the body.

She said: “We are starting to see long Covid in other organ systems, this is the first time we are recognising this can happen in the skin as well.

“I think it raises a lot of questions about what sort of inflammation is going on – is there inflammation elsewhere in the body? We don’t really know the answer yet.

“The skin can be viewed as a window into the rest of the body because it is inflammation which you can see – and can be indicative of inflammation elsewhere.”

The figures are submitted by doctors treating patients with skin issues in dozens of countries around the world, meaning there are potentially many people with Covid toes who have not sought medical help.

Dr Freeman said: “I think what we’re reporting is probably just the tip of the iceberg – it’s probably happening a lot more than we’re reporting but I think by reporting it more people will recognise it.”

The figures are being presented at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Congress in Switzerland this week.

Additional reporting by PA Media.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in