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Coronavirus might be spreading via feces, a new study has suggested. According to a report published in AFP, diarrhea may be a secondary path of transmission for the novel coronavirus, the primary one believed to be the virus-laden droplets from an infected person's cough. Researchers said they focused mainly on patients with respiratory symptoms in early cases and admitted to having overlooked those linked to the digestive tract.
A total of 14 out of 138 patients, which is nearly 10 percent, in a Wuhan hospital who were studied in the new paper by Chinese authors in the Journal of the Americal Media Association (JAMA) initially presented with diarrhea and nausea one or two days prior to development of fever and labored breathing, the report stated. Hinting at possibilities, the report said the first US patient diagnosed with the novel coronavirus also experienced loose bowel movements for two days. The virus was later detected in the patient's stool, the report added. It said there have been other such cases in China documented in the Lancet frequently.
William Keevil, a professor of environmental healthcare at the University of Southampton, said: "Importantly, 2019-nCoV has been reported elsewhere in the feces of patients with atypical abdominal symptoms, similar to SARS which was also shed in urine, suggesting a fecal transmission route which is highly transmissible."
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