Systemic Medications of Dermatological Importance in COVID-19

September 2020 | Volume 19 | Issue 9 | Original Article | 889 | Copyright © September 2020


Published online August 21, 2020

Robert A. Schwartz MD MPH DSc (Hon) FRCP (Edin),a Aseem Sharma MD,b Torello Lotti,c Jacek C. Szepietowski MD,d Sunmeet Sandhu MD,e Mohamad Goldust MDf

aRutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ bSkin Saga Centre for Dermatology, Mumbai, India cUniversity of Studies Guglielmo Marconi, Rome, Italy dWroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland eArmed Forces Medical College, Pune, India fUniversity Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland




Morbilliform to maculopapular rashes, seborrheic dermatitis, erythema nodosum, purpura, petechiae, exfoliative erythroderma, EM, TEN, and drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms have been reported.30

Drugs explored/ being studied in SARS-Cov-2 infection with cutaneous adverse effects
Various drugs such as remdesivir, ribavirin, interferon gamma, favipavir, arbidol hydrochloride, imatinib are being studied for their potential activity against SARS-Cov-2 infection.31 Table 1 highlights the probable mechanism of antiviral action and reported cutaneous adverse effect of these drugs.

CONCLUSION

With current existing limited clinical evidence of the majority of drugs proposed against SARS-Cov-2, a number of therapeutic agents are being explored globally against this catastrophic viral pandemic.32 Reinforcement of a few commonly utilized dermatological drugs with efficacy against this viral infection in mitigating active infection and its sequelae can further add to the novel treatment strategies. Dermatologist all across the world need to be aware of the potential adverse reactions of the known as well as these new drugs in light of their potentially overzealous use.

DISCLOSURES

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

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