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Review
. 2022 Mar 20;14(3):e23333.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.23333. eCollection 2022 Mar.

Impact of COVID-19 on the Gastrointestinal Tract: A Clinical Review

Haider Ghazanfar  1 , Sameer Kandhi  1 , Dongmin Shin  1 , Aruna Muthumanickam  1 , Hitesh Gurjar  1 , Zaheer A Qureshi  2   1   3 , Mohammed Shaban  1 , Mohamed Farag  4 , Asim Haider  4 , Pravash Budhathoki  4 , Tanushree Bhatt  1 , Ali Ghazanfar  5 , Abhilasha Jyala  1 , Harish Patel  6
Affiliations
Review

Impact of COVID-19 on the Gastrointestinal Tract: A Clinical Review

Haider Ghazanfar et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly throughout the world, causing a pandemic that has resulted in more than 5 million deaths globally. The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is known to have high expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors in the human body, making it prone to direct damage from the cellular invasion of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Numerous GI symptoms have been reported among patients with COVID-19. This systemic review details the mechanism and effects of COVID-19 on the GI tract along with the hepatobiliary and pancreatic systems.

Keywords: angiotensin converting enzyme 2; covid-19; gastrointestinal tract; liver; pancreas.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Effect of SARS-CoV-2 on the GI organ system
SARS-CoV-2: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; GI: gastrointestinal
Figure 2
Figure 2. Illustrated diagram of the systemic and GI renin-angiotensin system
ACE 2: angiotensin-converting enzyme 2; Ang1-7: angiotensin-(1–7); AT1: angiotensin II type 1 receptor; AT2: angiotensin II type 2 receptor
Figure 3
Figure 3. Mechanism of liver injury in COVID-19 patients
SARS-CoV-2: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019; ARDS: acute respiratory distress syndrome; ALI: acute liver injury
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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