These findings suggest that patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection can present with gastrointestinal symptoms with possible fecal-oral route of transmission due to the presence of viral RNA in stool.
These findings suggest that that 12% of patients with COVID-19 will manifest GI symptoms; however, SAR-CoV-2 shedding was observed in 40.5% of patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. This highlights the need to better understand what measures are needed to prevent further spread of this highly contagious pathogen.
This raises the question of inadvertent human-to-human transmission via the fecal route despite public health emphasis on droplet transmission and precautions for contact with respiratory secretions. Hence, additional information and understanding the involvement of the digestive system in transmission of COVID-19 during this pandemic would be useful.
COVID-19 and the gastrointestinal tract: more than meets the eye
In about 50% of COVID-19 cases, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in faecal samples and detection of SARS-CoV-2 in intestinal mucosa of infected patients suggest that enteric symptoms could be caused by invasion of ACE2 expressing enterocytes and the GI tract may be an alternative route of infection. In over half of the patients, faecal samples remained positive for SARS-CoV2 RNA for a mean of 11 days after clearance of respiratory tract samples.
Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infects cells of the intestine
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200504091438.htm
Researchers from the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, and Maastricht University in the Netherlands have found that the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, can infect cells of the intestine and multiply there.
