Some patients who eventually test positive for the new coronavirus have purple or blue lesions on their feet and toes, which are “typically painful to touch and could have a hot burning sensation,” Ebbing Lautenbach, MD, chief of infectious disease at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, told the newspaper.
The symptom appears early in the timeline of the disease, Dr. Lautenbach said, meaning this might be an initial clue indicating a person has the disease, even if they are not showing other symptoms.
The symptom can disappear in a week or 10 days for some patients, but in others, it could progress to respiratory symptoms. It appears mostly in children and young adults.
First identified by a physician in Italy in March, COVID toes may be caused by an inflammatory response in a patient’s feet and toes, or be the result of clotting blood vessels, Dr. Lautenbach told USA Today.
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