Evidence of Ongoing Gut Infection with SARS-CoV-2 in Some Patients

During moderate-to-severe acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, viral RNA is shed in feces. Viral RNA and antigens, and even live virus, have been demonstrated in gastrointestinal (GI) biopsies. The virus also can infect intestinal cell lines.

In a study from Stanford University, researchers followed 113 people (median age, 36) for as long as 10 months after diagnoses of mild-to-moderate COVID-19; 673 fecal samples were collected at prespecified times during follow-up. Almost half (49%) of fecal samples collected during the first week after diagnoses contained viral RNA. By 7 months after diagnoses, 4% of fecal samples contained viral RNA. GI shedding of viral RNA continued long after virus could no longer be detected in the oropharynx. Ongoing sheddi…