ORIGINAL ARTICLE   Free access

Giornale Italiano di Dermatologia e Venereologia 2020 October;155(5):632-5

DOI: 10.23736/S0392-0488.20.06735-8

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Cutaneous manifestations in an Italian military COVID hub

Donato DI NUNNO ¹, Alessandro LAGHI ¹ ✉, Giorgio TROIANI ¹, Bernardino MARSEGLIA ², Lorenzo ANELLI ³, Elisa FARINA ³, Francesco TARRICONE ², Giacomo MAMMANA ⁴, Carlo CATALANO ⁵, Alessandro BONITO ⁶, Antonio DE CAPUA ³, Guido CARAMANICO ³, Sante BLASIOLI ⁶, Stefano ASTORINO ¹

¹ Unit of Dermatology and Venereology, Celio Military Hospital, Rome, Italy; ² Unit of Cardiology, Celio Military Hospital, Rome, Italy; ³ Unit of Internal Medicine, Celio Military Hospital, Rome, Italy; ⁴ Celio Military Hospital, Rome, Italy; ⁵ Department of Medicine, Celio Military Hospital, Rome, Italy; ⁶ Unit of Emergency, Celio Military Hospital, Rome, Italy

BACKGROUND: The outbreak of the pandemic Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by a novel coronavirus named Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), affecting a high number of patients in Italy, forced a great number of doctors, even dermatologists, to work in the first lines in the dedicated departments. We analyzed the features and the incidence of dermatological issues emerged during the hospitalization due to COVID-19 and absent before.
METHODS: All the SARS-CoV-2 positive patients hospitalized in Celio Military Hospital - COVID hub no-intensive care wards from March 16, 2020 until May 4, 2020 were evaluated by dermatologists several times during the hospital stay.
RESULTS: Ninety-six patients (15 civilians and 81 Italian servicepeople) were enrolled: 34 (35.4%) patients developed cutaneous manifestations; 15 (16.0%) suffered from skin dryness; 5 (5.2%) irritant contact dermatitis; 4 (4.2%) seborrheic dermatitis; 4 (4.2%) morbilliform rashes; 3 (3.1%) petechial rashes and 3 (3.1%) widespread hives.
CONCLUSIONS: A deeper knowledge of cutaneous manifestations in military and civilian hospitalized COVID-19 patients could suggest more effective treatments to win the battle against SARS-CoV-2.

KEY WORDS: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Skin; Military personnel