Abstract: TYPE Original Research PUBLISHED 01 December 2022 DOI 10.3389/fmed.2022.1033601 OPEN ACCESS Iodine contrast exposure and incident COVID-19 infection EDITED BY Reza Lashgari, Shahid Beheshti University, Iran REVIEWED BY Perumal Arumugam Desingu, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), India Xiaojiong Jia, Harvard Medical School, United States *CORRESPONDENCE Angela M. Leung Angela.Leung@va.gov SPECIALTY SECTION This article was submitted to Infectious Diseases: Pathogenesis and Therapy, a section of the journal Frontiers in Medicine RECEIVED 31 August 2022 ACCEPTED 18 November 2022 PUBLISHED 01 December 2022 CITATION Tsai K, Inoue K, McClean M, Kaunitz JD, Akiba Y, Lee ML, Neverova NV, Currier JW, Ebrahimi R, Bashir MT and Leung AM (2022) Iodine contrast exposure and incident COVID-19 infection. Front. Med. 9:1033601. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.1033601 COPYRIGHT © 2022 Tsai, Inoue, McClean, Kaunitz, Akiba, Lee, Neverova, Currier, Ebrahimi, Bashir and Leung. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. Karen Tsai1,2 , Kosuke Inoue3,4 , Michael McClean5 , Jonathan D. Kaunitz6,7,8 , Yasutada Akiba6,7 , Martin L. Lee9,10 , Natalia V. Neverova11,12 , Jesse W. Currier11,12 , Ramin Ebrahimi11,12 , Muhammad T. Bashir5 and Angela M. Leung1,2* 1 Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism Section, Medical Service, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 2 Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 3 Department of Social Epidemiology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, 4 Department of Internal Medicine, Ito Hospital, Tokyo, Japan, 5 Research Service, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 6 Gastroenterology Section, Medical Service, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 7 Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 8 Department of Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 9 Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development, Center for the Study of Health Care Innovation, Implementation, and Policy, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 10 Department of Biostatistics, Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 11 Cardiology Section, Medical Service, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, United States, 12 Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States Background: Iodine and particularly its oxidated forms have long been recognized for its effective antiseptic properties. Limited in vitro and in vivo data suggest..