2019 Novel coronavirus infection and gastrointestinal tract

Gao, Qin Yan; Chen, Ying Xuan; Fang, Jing Yuan

Since end of December 2019, a cluster of patients with pneumonia of unknown origin was reported from Wuhan, Hubei province, China. As of Feb 17th, 2020, statistical data show that the outbreak constitutes an epidemic threat in China, where the exponential increase in patients has reached 75114 confirmed cases, with 2239 deaths. Different from SARS-CoV (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus) and MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) infection, the initial presentations or the chief complain of some patients with the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) were gastrointestinal symptoms. So we call upon all the first-line medical staff to be cautious and pay more attention to those untypical patients especially from the epidemic area. Besides, as the viral nucleic acids could be found in the fecal samples and anal swabs of some patients with COVID-19 infection, the possibility of fecal-oral transmission need to be took into account. Based on the previously and recently studies, we speculate that COVID-19 may have some relationship with the gut microbiota through angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor, thus targeting gut microbiota might be a new therapeutic option for the treatment of virus-related pneumonia. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.