Copyright
©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 via fecal-oral: Current knowledge
Filipe Antônio França da Silva, Breno Bittencourt de Brito, Maria Luísa Cordeiro Santos, Hanna Santos Marques, Ronaldo Teixeira da Silva Júnior, Lorena Sousa de Carvalho, Samuel de Sousa Cruz, Gabriel Reis Rocha, Gabriel Lima Correa Santos, Kathlen Coutinho de Souza, Rebeca Gabrielle Almeida Maciel, Daiana Silva Lopes, Natália Oliveira e Silva, Márcio Vasconcelos Oliveira, Fabrício Freire de Melo
Filipe Antônio França da Silva, Breno Bittencourt de Brito, Maria Luísa Cordeiro Santos, Ronaldo Teixeira da Silva Júnior, Lorena Sousa de Carvalho, Samuel de Sousa Cruz, Gabriel Reis Rocha, Gabriel Lima Correa Santos, Kathlen Coutinho de Souza, Rebeca Gabrielle Almeida Maciel, Natália Oliveira e Silva, Márcio Vasconcelos Oliveira, Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Vitória da Conquista 45002175, Bahia, Brazil
Hanna Santos Marques, Departamento de Ciências Naturais, Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia, Vitória da Conquista 45002175, Bahia, Brazil
Daiana Silva Lopes, Departamento de Bioquímica e Biofísica, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador 40.110-100, Bahia, Brazil
Fabrício Freire de Melo, Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Vitória da Conquista 45029-094, Bahia, Brazil
Author contributions: da Silva FAF contributed to conceptualization, methodology, investigation, and writing the original draft; de Brito BB, Santos MLC, Marques HS, Júnior RTS, de Carvalho LS, Cruz SS, Rocha GR, Santos GLC, de Souza KC, and Maciel RGA contributed to investigation and writing the original draft; Silva Lopes DS, e Silva NO, and Oliveira MV contributed to formal analysis, investigation, and supervision; de Melo FF contributed to conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, and supervision.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest associated with any of the senior author or other coauthors contributed their efforts in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Fabrício Freire de Melo, MSc, PhD, Postdoc, Professor, Instituto Multidisciplinar em Saúde, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Rua Hormindo Barros, 58, Quadra 17, Lote 58 - Candeias, Vitória da Conquista - BA, 45029-094, Vitória da Conquista 45029-094, Bahia, Brazil. freiremelo@yahoo.com.br
Received: January 26, 2021
Peer-review started: January 26, 2021
First decision: June 4, 2021
Revised: June 15, 2021
Accepted: August 23, 2021
Article in press: August 23, 2021
Published online: October 6, 2021
The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in more than 93 million cases and 2 million deaths in the world. SARS-CoV-2 respiratory tract infection and its main clinical manifestations such as cough and shortness of breath are well known to the scientific community. However, a growing number of studies have reported SARS-CoV-2-related gastrointestinal involvement based on clinical manifestations, such as diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain as well as on the pathophysiological mechanisms associated with coronavirus disease 2019. Furthermore, current evidence suggests SARS-CoV-2 transmission via the fecal-oral route and aerosol dissemination. Moreover, studies have shown a high risk of contamination through hospital surfaces and personal fomites. Indeed, viable SARS-CoV-2 specimens can be obtained from aerosols, which raises the possibility of transmission through aerosolized viral particles from feces. Therefore, the infection by SARS-CoV-2 via fecal-oral route or aerosolized particles should be considered. In addition, a possible viral spread to sources of drinking water, sewage, and rivers as well as the possible risk of viral transmission in shared toilets become a major public health concern, especially in the least developed countries. Since authors have emphasized the presence of viral RNA and even viable SARS-CoV-2 in human feces, studies on the possible fecal-oral coronavirus disease 2019 transmission become essential to understand better the dynamics of its transmission and, then, to reinforce preventive measures against this infection, leading to a more satisfactory control of the incidence of the infection.
Core Tip: The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has become a global health problem. Transmission via the respiratory tract and the clinical manifestations related to that organ system are well known to the scientific community. In addition, current knowledge about the viral infection strongly suggests a possible transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 via the fecal-oral route. In addition, a possible spread of the virus to sources of drinking water, sewage, and rivers as well as the possibility of viral transmission in shared toilets become a major public health problem, especially in underdeveloped countries.
