Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jul;39(7):e133-e134.
doi: 10.1097/INF.0000000000002704.

Fecal-Oral Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 In Children: is it Time to Change Our Approach?

Daniele Donà  1 , Chiara Minotti  2 , Paola Costenaro  1 , Liviana Da Dalt  3 , Carlo Giaquinto  1
Affiliations

Fecal-Oral Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 In Children: is it Time to Change Our Approach?

Daniele Donà et al. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

Starting from 2 pediatric cases of COVID-19, with confirmation at nasopharyngeal and rectal swabs, we considered the lesson learnt from previous Coronavirus epidemics and reviewed evidence on the current outbreak. Surveillance with rectal swabs might be extended to infants and children, for the implications for household contacts and isolation timing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no funding or conflicts of interest to disclose.

References

    1. Zimmermann P, Curtis N. Coronavirus Infections in Children Including COVID-19 an overview of the epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, treatment and prevention options in children. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2020;XX:00–00. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Xu Y, Li X, Zhu B, et al. Characteristics of pediatric SARS-CoV-2 infection and potential evidence for persistent fecal viral shedding. Nat Med. 2020. 10.1038/s41591-020-0817-4 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yeo C, Kaushal S, Yeo D. Enteric involvement of coronaviruses: is faecal-oral transmission of SARS-CoV-2 possible? Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020;5:335–337. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zhang W, Du RH, Li B, et al. Molecular and serological investigation of 2019-nCoV infected patients: implication of multiple shedding routes. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020;9:386–389. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wang W, Xu Y, Gao R, et al. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in different types of clinical specimens. JAMA. 2020. Mar 11. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.3786. [Epub ahead of print] - PMC - PubMed