The world is bracing for the impact of COVID-19 which has been reported from 119 countries and territories around the world infecting more than 121,000 people with close to 4400 deaths globally as of March 11th. A better understanding of how this virus is transmitted and disseminating this knowledge is key to preventing its spread as the epidemiologists fear that it may affect 70% of world population.
In two new papers published online in a very reputed journal ‘Gastroenterology’, investigators from China report that a good number of coronavirus patients have diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and/or abdominal discomfort before respiratory symptoms come up. While these are all very non specific symptoms, a high index of suspicion is called for under the current circumstances. Monitoring of patients with initial GI distress, would facilitate earlier detection and diagnosis, as it is now clear that the virus sheds into the stool. This would lead to timely isolation and intervention.