Gastrointestinal manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection and virus load in fecal samples from the Hong Kong cohort and systematic review and meta-analysisPublished on Gastroenterology, 03 April 2020
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Gut (gastrointestinal) symptoms have been reported in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. A team of experts from HKUMed found traces of the virus in stool samples from infected patients in Hong Kong. Genetic material of the virus (viral RNA) was detected in 9 of the 59 patients (15.3%) in the study, suggesting that the virus may be able to spread via the ‘fecal-oral route’, whereby the virus is transmitted via unhygienic practices from feces to the mouth, for example: when a person does not wash hands properly after going to the toilet then touches or prepares food that is eaten by other people. Key takeaways:
The study also analyzed 4,243 patients from 6 countries and found that 17.6% of these patients also had gut symptoms. Common symptoms included eating problems, vomiting, diarrhea and stomachache. Key takeaways:
This work shows that it is reasonable to test patients with gut symptoms for SARS-CoV-2 even when they do not have fever or respiratory symptoms. As the virus persists longer in the gut, healthcare workers must take precautions when collecting stool samples or performing a colonoscopy, a procedure that uses a probe to examine inside the large intestine (colon). |
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