SARS-CoV-2 can be detected in sputum and stool samples even after this coronavirus is not present in nasopharyngeal samples. A corresponding study by Chinese specialists was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, according to the American College of Physicians.
The study involved 133 people who were admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of COVID-19 in the period from January 20 to February 27. At the same time, 22 people showed a negative result for coronavirus, taking into account a sample from the nasopharynx, and a positive one based on sputum and feces samples.
Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to analyze sputum and stool. The scientists emphasize that their research cannot be considered rigorous, and note that it is not known whether the findings indicate that a patient who is formally cured of the coronavirus is still infectious to others.
In March, Stanford University Medical Center (USA) reported that about one in five people who become infected with COVID-19 are also infected with other respiratory viruses.
In the same month, the American Chemical Society reported that pangolins are intermediate hosts in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus from bats to humans.
Also in March, Chinese experts published a study in JAMA Cardiology, where they said that diseases of the cardiovascular system almost 4.5 times increase mortality from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.
Coronavirus distribution map here.