Skin color matters

This happened when scientists were studying COVID-19. It is a disease that caused a massive global outbreak. In the United States and the United Kingdom, COVID-19 is more likely to affect Black people than white people.

One COVID-19 symptom happens on the skin. It can change the color of fingers and toes. A group of scientists studied the images of these skin changes. But they noticed that almost all of the images showed people with white skin. 

This problem goes beyond COVID-19, too. The scientists looked at other medical textbooks. Only 4.5 percent of medical photos show dark skin. That makes it more difficult to identify illnesses in Black patients.