National Geographic
The study showed that compared to healthy individuals, COVID toe patients had high levels of immune proteins called autoantibodies in their blood that erroneously damaged their own healthy tissues. They also carried high levels of proteins called type I interferons that are a first line of defense against viral infections.
"We know people who have interferonopathy, which are genetic diseases where there is too much interferon production, get pernio [chilblain]-like lesions,” says Lindy Fox, a dermatologist at the University of California, San Francisco.
