Cutaneous Manifestations of COVID-19: An Experience From Oman.

Aisha Al Ali,Fatma Al-Balushi,Farah Al Ghailani,Safiya Al-Shidhani,Abdul Rahman Al-Azri,Reham Al Riyami,Sultan Al Lawati Al Lawati,Mohammed Alhinai

doi:10.7759/cureus.16667

Abstract

Objectives: To identify the cutaneous manifestations in COVID-19 disease in Oman.Methods: The study was conducted in two phases with initial cross-sectional data collection with subsequent telemedical investigations of late skin manifestations including confirmed COVID-19 patients evaluated at Al-Nahdha Hospital and local health centers in Muscat from March 22 to June 2, 2020.Results: The total number of patients included in the study was 374. Cutaneous manifestations were observed in 1.87% (n=7) of patients at presentation with an additional 1.6% (n=5) on follow-up. The types of skin reactions included maculopapular rash (n=6), urticaria (n=2), transient pruritic erythema (n=1), pruritic palmoplantar erythema (n=1), pustular eruption (n=1) and flare-up of atopic dermatitis (n=1).Conclusions: The low percentage of skin lesions is not contradicting previous data and it might just reflect under-reporting of skin rash in the context of the presence of more severe symptoms in our sample population. Skin lesions can still be utilized to treat patients as suspected cases until proven otherwise as it can be a silent clue in asymptomatic patients.

Highlights

Since late December 2019, the COVID-19 outbreak has spread from Wuhan, China to the rest of the world causing significant impacts on health systems and the global economy
There is limited data on the cutaneous manifestations of COVID-19 and the experiences in the middle east countries in general and in Oman in particular, we report here the outcome of a cross-sectional study that focused on the cutaneous lesions seen in patients who were affected by COVID-19 within two weeks after confirmation of disease
A total of 374 patients confirmed with COVID-19 disease by using SARS-CoV-2 RNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were enrolled in the study

Summary

Introduction

Since late December 2019, the COVID-19 outbreak has spread from Wuhan, China to the rest of the world causing significant impacts on health systems and the global economy. The incubation period of COVID-19 is estimated to be around five days [1]. It generally produces non-specific symptoms like body aches, fever and cough that might be associated with a variety of other symptoms like sore throat, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, diarrhea and headache among other less frequent symptoms [1,2]. One of the initial studies in Italy reported just above 20% of COVID-19 patients developing skin lesions. Large-scale studies and case reports were subsequently released reporting more extensive illustrations and classification of skin associations that were seen in confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients with skin rash [4]

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