Previous studies on the coronavirus (CoVID-19) have shown that respiratory
symptoms such as fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath are mainly the common
manifestations at the onset of the infection. These symptoms are largely similar to
severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which prevailed in 2003, and the Middle
East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2012, indicating droplet and contact transmission
to be the reason for transmission. However, it is widely accepted that a range of
common attributes, like diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal discomfort, can be
observed among various affected populations, along with an early and mild onset
commonly followed by typical respiratory symptoms. Increasing affirmation from
several recent research works on SARS-CoV-2 has indicated that the gastrointestinal
tract (intestine) epithelium is a favorable host to SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus particles.
These findings are confirmed by the viral detection in biopsy specimens and stool
samples of even the positive patients, thus explaining at least partially the
gastrointestinal symptoms in the patients. Additionally, the wastewater-based
epidemiology studies being done by various countries suggest that individuals can start
shedding the virus particles in the feces long before any of the key symptoms could be
manifested or before the patients could be clinically diagnosed. These findings have
ignited the questions on potential recurrence and transmission of COVID-19 from
persistent fecal shedding from the infected individuals.
Keywords: COVID-19, Faecal-oral Transmission, Gastroenteritis, WBE.
