Serial Screening for SARS-CoV-2 in Rectal Swabs of Symptomatic COVID-19 Patients.
J Korean Med Sci
; 36(44): e301, 2021 Nov 15.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1526760
ABSTRACT
We used serial rectal swabs to investigate the amount and duration of virus secretion through the gastrointestinal tract and assessed the association between fecal shedding and gastrointestinal symptoms and to clarify the clinical usefulness testing rectal swabs. We enrolled ten adult patients hospitalized with symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Respiratory and stool specimens were collected by physicians. The presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was confirmed using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. All ten patients had respiratory symptoms, six had diarrhea, and seven were positive for SARS-CoV-2 on rectal swabs. The viral loads in the respiratory specimens was higher than those in the rectal specimens, and no rectal specimens were positive after the respiratory specimens became negative. There was no association between gastrointestinal symptoms, pneumonia, severity, and rectal viral load. Rectal swabs may play a role in detecting SARS-CoV-2 in individuals with suspected COVID-19, regardless of gastrointestinal symptoms.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Rectum
/
Virus Shedding
/
COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing
/
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
English
Journal:
J Korean Med Sci
Journal subject:
Medicine
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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