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. 2022 Dec 22;11(1):33.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11010033.

Intestinal Shedding of SARS-CoV-2 in Children: No Evidence for Infectious Potential

Filomena Nogueira  1   2 , Klara Obrova  1 , Meryl Haas  1   2 , Evelyn Tucek  2 , Karin Kosulin  1 , Michaela Fortschegger  1   2 , Paola Fürhacker  2 , Christina Walter  2 , Lisa Größlinger  2 , Susanne Peter  3 , Julia Othman Hassan  4 , Martin Probst  5 , Hans Salzer  5 , Thomas Lion  1   2   6
Affiliations

Intestinal Shedding of SARS-CoV-2 in Children: No Evidence for Infectious Potential

Filomena Nogueira et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

The clinical courses of COVID-19 in children are often mild and may remain undiagnosed, but prolonged intestinal virus shedding has been documented, thus potentially enabling fecal-oral transmission. However, the infectious potential of SARS-CoV-2 viruses excreted with feces has remained unclear. Here, we investigated 247 stool specimens from 213 pediatric patients to assess the prevalence of intestinal SARS-CoV-2 shedding in hospitalized children without or with COVID-19 and determined the infectious capacity of stool-borne viruses. Upon RT-qPCR screening, the infectivity of virus-positive samples was tested in cell culture using the Vero-E6 permissive cell line. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected by RT-qPCR in 32 (13%) stool specimens, but the analysis of virus-positive samples in cell culture revealed no cytopathic effects attributable to SARS-CoV-2-related cell damage. Our findings do not support the notion of potential fecal-oral SARS-CoV-2 spreading, thus questioning the role of hygienic measures designed to prevent this mode of viral transmission.

Keywords: COVID-19; cytopathic effect; infectivity; pediatric; stool.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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