Coronaviruses and gastrointestinal symptoms: an old liaison for the new SARS-CoV-2

Giacomo Caio; Lisa Lungaro; Rosario Cultrera; Roberto De Giorgio; Umberto Volta

Coronaviruses and gastrointestinal symptoms: an old liaison for the new SARS-CoV-2

Gastroenterol Hepatol Bed Bench. 2020 Fall;13(4):341-350.

Authors

Giacomo Caio^{1

2}, Lisa Lungaro¹, Rosario Cultrera¹, Roberto De Giorgio¹, Umberto Volta³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Morphology, Surgery and Experimental Medicine, University of Ferrara, Ferrara Italy.
² Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital - Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
³ Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.

PMID: 33244376
PMCID: PMC7682957

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has caused a pandemic with more than 600,000 deaths to date. It is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a member of the beta-coronavirus genus that also includes SARS and the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS). While the typical presentation is given by respiratory symptoms and fever, some patients also report gastrointestinal symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Several studies have identified the SARS-CoV-2 RNA in stool specimens of infected patients, and its viral receptor angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is highly expressed in enterocytes. In this short review, we report the frequency of gastrointestinal symptoms in infected patients and suggest possible implications for disease management, transmission, and infection control.

Keywords: Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; COVID-19; Diarrhea; Gastrointestinal Presentation; Nausea; SARS-CoV-2; Vomiting..

Publication types

Review