Official ILDS COVID-19 Statement

ILDS STATEMENT ON THE CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) OUTBREAK – APRIL 2020

The worldwide spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a serious public health concern. It is having an impact on the way people around the world live and work.

The International League of Dermatological Societies (ILDS) and the International Foundation for Dermatology (IFD) have been monitoring the situation; following advice from authorities such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and national health authorities and have been taking actions to protect the well-being of those that we work with around the world.

In addition, we recognise that we all have a critical role in supporting efforts to protect individuals and populations around the world and provide specific guidance where possible with regards to those with skin conditions. We are aware that a number of national and regional dermatology societies will be providing their own guidance and we hope to complement that with guidance that can be an additional resource for our members wherever they are based in the world. We will share guidance via email and on our website concerning treatment for patients with skin diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We join with you as leaders of dermatological organisations, health professionals, researchers, patients and patient organisations leaders, policy-makers and other key stakeholders in solidarity towards our common goal of protecting public health at this difficult time. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the ILDS Secretariat by emailing info@ilds.org.

This statement covers the following areas:

  1. Changes to ILDS working practices and plans
  2. Protecting public health: Supporting efforts to raise awareness of how everyone can protect themselves from COVID-19

You can read the statement in full here.


ILDS Guidance

ILDS has issued the following guidance notes:


COVID-19 and Skin Registries 

There have been increasing reports of dermatologic manifestations of coronavirus (COVID-19). In order to rapidly and centrally collect information from a global network of dermatologists and inform colleagues on the front line combating the virus, the ILDS is actively collaborating with the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) and other ILDS Member organisations to promote the use of these newly developed registries. These valuable registries are aimed at helping dermatologists around the world rapidly get a better understanding of the consequences of COVID-19 for our patients and their management. three such registries are listed below.

  • Dermatologic Manifestations of COVID-19, and existing dermatologic conditions in the setting of COVID-19
    The International Dermatology COVID-19 Registry, in collaboration with the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) and the ILDS, captures healthcare provider entered cases. It focuses on a) dermatologic manifestations of COVID-19 and b) a wide range of existing dermatologic conditions in patients that then develop COVID-19. Cases can either be clinically suspected or laboratory confirmed COVID. The registry does not contain any protected health information (PHI) and has been reviewed as exempt by Massachusetts General Hospital IRB. Entries from any country and from any specialty are encouraged.
  • Psoriasis (PsoPROTECT registry)
    PsoPROTECT is a new global registry established to assess outcomes of COVID-19 in patients with psoriasis. It operates in collaboration with other dermatology COVID registries and international organisations including the International Psoriasis Council, International Federation of Psoriasis Associations, Global Psoriasis Atlas, ILDS, ESDR, EADV, SPIN and EDF.
    Entering cases of psoriasis with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 via the simple online case report forms is both quick and easy and can be done during a virtual consultation. All data are de-identified. The information provided will rapidly improve our understanding of how factors such as systemic immunomodulatory therapies, comorbidities and disease activity affect outcomes of COVID-19 in psoriasis. Regular open-access summaries of reported cases will be provided online.
  • Atopic Dermatitis (SECURE-AD registry)
    The SECURE-AD registry, in collaboration with the International Society for Atopic Dermatitis, the International Eczema Council, the European Taskforce for Atopic Dermatitis, SPIN, EDEN, the EADV and the ILDS, collects de-identified data of atopic dermatitis (AD) patients with a confirmed Covid-19 infection episode. The registry collects data of all AD patients who were Covid-19 infected, including those on systemic immuno-modulatory medication. The SECURE-AD data entry platform is closely aligned to PsoProtect and other inflammatory disease registries to allow comparative analyses. Like the other registries, SECURE-AD only collects retrospectively entered anonymized patient data and has therefore been exempt from Research Ethics Committee review.


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