• Jeong-Min Kim, Heui Man Kim, Eun Jung Lee, Hye Jun Jo, Youngsil Yoon, Nam-Joo Lee, Junseock Son, Ye-Ji Lee, Mi Seon Kim, Yong-Pyo Lee, Su-Jin Chae, Kye Ryeong Park, Seung-Rye Cho, Sehee Park, Su Jin Kim, Eunbyeol Wang, SangHee Woo, Aram Lim, Su-Jin Park, JunHyeong Jang, Yoon-Seok Chung, Bum Sik Chin, Jin-Soo Lee, Duko Lim, Myung-Guk Han, and Cheon Kwon Yoo.
• Division of Viral Diseases, Center for Laboratory Control of Infectious Diseases, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cheongju, Korea.
• Osong Public Health Res Perspect. 2020 Jun 1; 11 (3): 112-117.

ObjectivesCoronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) is a respiratory infection characterized by the main symptoms of pneumonia and fever. It is caused by the novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is known to spread via respiratory droplets. We aimed to determine the rate and likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from COVID-19 patients through non-respiratory routes.MethodsSerum, urine, and stool samples were collected from 74 hospitalized patients diagnosed with COVID-19 based on the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in respiratory samples. The SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome was extracted from each specimen and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction performed. CaCo-2 cells were inoculated with the specimens containing the SARS-COV-2 genome, and subcultured for virus isolation. After culturing, viral replication in the cell supernatant was assessed.ResultsOf the samples collected from 74 COVID-19 patients, SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 15 serum, urine, or stool samples. The virus detection rate in the serum, urine, and stool samples were 2.8% (9/323), 0.8% (2/247), and 10.1% (13/129), and the mean viral load was 1,210 ± 1,861, 79 ± 30, and 3,176 ± 7,208 copy/μL, respectively. However, the SARS-CoV-2 was not isolated by the culture method from the samples that tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 gene.ConclusionWhile the virus remained detectable in the respiratory samples of COVID-19 patients for several days after hospitalization, its detection in the serum, urine, and stool samples was intermittent. Since the virus could not be isolated from the SARS-COV-2-positive samples, the risk of viral transmission via stool and urine is expected to be low.Copyright ©2020, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

3 keywords...

hide…