Study Reveals Four New COVID-19 Symptoms, Including ’COVID Toe’

Among the four new symptoms detected, there is the blue toe or "Covid toe". It is not so serious, according to an American study conducted jointly by the International League of Dermatological Societies and the American Academy of Dermatology. It disappears in most cases after 15 days. But in some patients, this type of symptom persists for up to 150 days. "It seems that there is a certain subgroup of patients who, when they contract Covid-19, develop inflammation in the toes, which makes them red and swollen, then they end up turning purple," explained Esther Freeman, dermatologist and author of the study. She adds that between April and August 2020, many people developed this type of symptoms in 39 countries around the world, reports Ouest France.

Regarding hair loss, a study published by researcher Natalie Lambert of the Indiana University School of Medicine has demonstrated this. Of the 1,567 people responding to the study, 423 said they had noticed hair loss. According to the study, these hair losses "can last up to six or nine months; and most cases resolve on their own."

Among the symptoms, there is also a sudden and permanent hearing loss. Although it is rare, scattered cases have been recorded. British doctors talk about a 45-year-old man with treated asthma for Covid-19 in their hospital. A week after his discharge from intensive care, he noticed an abnormal ringing sensation in his left ear followed by sudden hearing loss which was restored after treatment with corticosteroids. The first case of hearing loss related to Covid-19 was reported in April 2020 in Thailand.

The last symptom detected is persistent hiccups. Researchers reported in the medical journal The American Journal of Emergency Medicine, having learned of the case of a 62-year-old man who presented to the emergency room last April after having had hiccups for four days, the same source specifies.