Dermatology practices as vectors for COVID-19 transmission: A call for immediate cessation of nonemergent dermatology visits

Kwatra, Shawn G.; Sweren, Ronald J.; Grossberg, Anna L.

doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2020.03.037

Cited by 79 publications

(83 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…After the evaluation, these sealed bags are dipped in a container with a 70% ethanol solution, 3 thus being completely disinfected. This is a safe method to avoid unnecessary visits, 4 attempting to reduce person-to person spread.…”

Section: Dear Editormentioning

confidence: 99%

Comment on: Cutaneous manifestations in COVID‐19: a first perspective. Safety concerns of clinical images and skin biopsies

Fernández‐Nieto

Ortega‐Quijano

Segurado‐Miravalles

et al. 2020

Acad Dermatol Venereol

109

130

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investigate further. First, the analysis did not include patients with similar clinical symptoms, i.e. cough or fever, but were tested negative. Since COVID-19 negative patients, likely with other viral infections, may also have similar skin manifestation as COVID-19 positive patients do, the difference in the prevalence and morphology of skin rash between COVID-19 positive and negative patients warrants comparisons. This would address whether the skin rashes of the three patterns described in the study (erythematous, urticarial and varicelliform) are specific to the COVID-10. Second, it is crucial to measure the viral load in different time points before, during and after the skin rashes in future studies. Viraemia and the skin exanthem may have different time kinetics in different viral infections. For example, viraemia of the measles peaks at the onset of skin rash, 7 whereas viraemia of the parvovirus B19 ends before the onset of skin rash. 8 Hence, the dynamic viral load and its reference to skin rash can become a vital clinical clue for the clinicians to determine the optimal timing (before, during or after the skin rash) to collect the samples for molecular identification. As we have observed the heavy burden of triage and shortage of essential medical goods posed by the outspread of COVID-19, the introduction of an easy clinical assessment tool like classic COVID-19 skin manifestation is a novel path to cope with the challenge that we are facing during the pandemic. However, this will take more studies to build up the validity and reliability. Dermatology's outlook in the COVID-19 is multidimensional, starting from the pathogenesis, public health issues to applying new technologies in clinical practice, the opportunities are infinite. Most importantly, we dermatologists as part of the medical community should contribute our unique perspective in the battle against this formidable pandemic.

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Section: Dear Editormentioning

confidence: 99%

Comment on: Cutaneous manifestations in COVID‐19: a first perspective. Safety concerns of clinical images and skin biopsies

Fernández‐Nieto

Ortega‐Quijano

Segurado‐Miravalles

et al. 2020

Acad Dermatol Venereol

109

130

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“…Measures of protection, screening, and above all isolation have shown to be efficient in similar settings, particularly in the early stage of the disease. Dermatologists should reduce their outpatient visits to urgent cases, including surgical procedures for invasive malignancies, or emergent inpatient consultations with proper personal protective equipment and an emphasis on social distancing, as also indicated by Kwatra et al (2) in their recent article. Although the reduction of face-to-face consultation is required in order to reduce the risk of infection, dermatological services must be maintained in action and "teledermatology" should be the solution.…”

Section: Letter To the Editormentioning

confidence: 99%

Teledermatology: a useful tool to fight COVID-19

Villani

Scalvenzi

Fabbrocini

2020

Journal of Dermatological Treatment

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“…George Kroumpouzos 2,3 Dedee F. Murrell 4 Mohammad Jafferany 5 Torello Lotti 6 Uwe Wollina 7 Swathi Shivakumar 8 1 Department of Dermatology and Allergy, University Hospital Basel,…”

Section: Mohamad Goldustmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is especially necessary in a setting like dermatology outpatients where the number of cases is bigger and chances of cross-infection from physician to patient, or vice versa, are high. 6 The outpatient case load can be reduced by limiting appointments to only emergency cases. Routine follow-up visits can be converted into virtual visits (teledermatology).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%