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Are ‘COVID toes’ actually caused by the coronavirus?

Study adds to evidence suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 infection doesn’t cause an inflamed-toe condition called chilblains, but it doesn’t close the door.
  1. Cassandra Willyard
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In March 2020, just as COVID-19 cases began to surge in Boston, Massachusetts, Esther Freeman noticed something peculiar — a deluge of people with discoloured toes requesting appointments. Freeman, director of global health dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital, had seen these kinds of toes before. The itchy red and purple patches are a classic sign of chilblains, a skin condition that typically appears in cold weather. But usually, she would see one or two cases each winter. “Suddenly, I was seeing 15, 20 patients a day,” she says. Intriguingly, the surge — seen by physicians around the globe — seemed to coincide with the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Nature 603, 779 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00707-1

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 17 March 2022: An earlier version of this story showed an image of the foot of a person with severe COVID-19. However, this person did not have chilblains, they had a different condition affecting their toes.

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