This study found that 35.7% of COVID-19 patients had live virus in stool specimens. These patients did not experience diarrhoea or other gastrointestinal symptoms, neither were positive stool samples associated with more severe respiratory symptoms. Transmission through the fecal-oral route or fomite (surface) contamination could be a major contributor to the rapid spread of the disease, especially in asymptomatic cases where hosts may not be aware that they have COVID-19.
___
Zhang, Jingcheng; Wang, Saibin; and Xue, Yadong. “Fecal Specimen Diagnosis 2019 Novel Coronavirus-Infected Pneumonia.” Journal of Medical Virology (March 3, 2020). https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25742.
