Covid Toes among kids: New symptom of novel coronavirus infection

Doctors identified a new symptom of COVID-19, caused by the novel coronavirus, informally dubbed “COVID toes.”

The presence of purple or blue lesions on a patient’s feet and toes puzzles infectious disease experts.

“They’re typically painful to touch and could have a hot burning sensation,” said Dr. Ebbing Lautenbach, chief of infectious disease at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine.

Doctors said that symptoms of ‘COVID toes’ appeared in patients who do not show any other symptoms.

“COVID toes” in some people can disappear in the course of a week to 10 days, but others progress to respiratory symptoms, Lautenbach said.

This appears in children and young adults compared to any other age group. Ebbing suggested this may be because children and young adults have better immune systems.

This condition is much like frostbite or pernio, which is a condition found among people living in harsh winters in polar and sub-polar regions. Here blood vessels in the toes get aggravated inflammation and toes tend to have serious spasm.

The condition was nicknamed ‘Covid Toes’ because dermatologists found it to be most prevalent in areas with a high concentration of Covid-19 patients in Italy.

Now, the same ‘Covid Toes’ condition is being reported from areas severely hit by novel coronavirus pandemic in the US, like Boston.

In Italy, such kids did not show any of the previously known symptoms of Covid-19. The correlation was hotly debated among dermatologists and the medical professionals on and off social media.

It is possible that symptoms that are currently atypical for Covid-19 may evolve into key indicators of novel coronavirus infection in months and years to come because, as the World Health Orgnaisation warns, this virus is going to stay among humans for a long time.

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