It is painful, the nail is surrounded by red, purplish blisters ... Banal frostbite or “Covid toe?
"In the list of" surprise "symptoms of Covid-19, we know concentration disorders, loss of smell, pulmonary inflammatory storm, here is another.
It is that of the "purple toes", pointed out by an American study carried out jointly by the International League of Dermatological Societies and the American Academy of Dermatology.
"It seems that there is a certain subgroup of patients who, when they contract Covid-19, develop inflammation in the toes in the form of frostbite," explains its author, dermatologist Esther Freeman.
As early as April, this big name from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School had created an international registry allowing the tracing of suspected cases of skin lesions.
After having peeled them, it does not exclude a link with Sars-Cov2.
Benin in most cases
“In most cases, this inflammation resolves on its own and disappears,” observes the doctor, “it is relatively benign.
It lasts on average about fifteen days.
But we have seen patients in whom it continued for more than 150 days, in them the inflammation is maintained and 16% had to be hospitalized to treat it ”, continues the doctor.
In April, the French Dermatology Society (SFD) warned of “sudden and persistent redness, sometimes painful, frostbite on the fingers and toes”.
But at the end of the study called Covid Skin carried out in France from the end of March to May last among 311 cases of “suspicious” frostbite spotted by general practitioners and specialists, French scientists had not found any 'evidence to link it to the virus.
"For 9 months, publications have followed one another, we have reached more than 600 publications on the subject and we still cannot see clearly", reacts Laurence Le Cleach of the Henri-Mondor hospital in Créteil (Val- de-Marne), one of the pilots of the Covid Skin investigation.
“The patients we looked at were often young, with an average age of 25, continues the dermatologist and venereologist.
But when a blood test was taken, which is troubling, their serology in the vast majority of cases was negative, there was no trace of antibodies.
Nordic studies suggest this could be a consequence of containment, but again, this remains to be proven.
"
It is necessary to consult after 15 days
Since then, the doctor has scrutinized all the studies, but still impossible to form a religion: “At the beginning of October, out of 1293 cases reported through 23 publications, only 12% (455 of them) were found to be positive on the PCR test. and 8% showed positive serology, ”she notes.
Are patients with “Covid toe” showing up in his hospital?
“Not really, but that doesn't mean there isn't.
It is quite possible that they will abstain, given the context.
Maybe we should launch a new Covid Skin investigation?
She replies.
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However, don't panic if one of your big toes is bothering you.
"A humid and cool weather with temperatures between -5 ° C and 13 ° C, it is conducive to frostbite, explains the doctor.
So we keep our feet warm, we put on good socks and very cozy slippers at home.
It is only if this does not happen within two weeks that we consult, ”she recommends.
