Covid Toes — new symptom of coronavirus among kids

Bhubaneswar: Doctors have identified another unusual symptom of the novel coronavirus informally known as “Covid toes” by dermatologists.

They are these painful red and purple bumps that tend to occur on the tips of the toes or on the top of the feet, or on the top of the fingers or tips of the fingers.

These conditions are very much like frostbite or pernio, where the blood vessels in the toes get aggravated with inflammation and toes tend to have serious spasm.

“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.

“This is a manifestation that occurs early in the disease, meaning you have this first, then you progress. Sometimes this might be your first clue that they have Covid when they don’t have any other symptom”, Lautenbach said.

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

The new symptom appears in more children and young adults than any other group, this is because children and young adults have better immune system. According to Lautenbach, “Covid toes” were discovered in March by the Italy doctors. Once the experts were informed about the strange symptom, they began recognizing more and more cases in the USA.

Although patients with “Covid Toes” are most likely to test negative for Covid-19, as the virus is in its earliest stages, he said patients should quarantine at home and monitor closely for the developing symptoms