WASHINGTON: Diarrhoea may be a secondary path of transmission for the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), scientists said on Friday following the publication of the latest study reporting patients with abdominal symptoms and loose stool. The possibility is not totally surprising to scientists, given that the new virus belongs to the same family as SARS. Faecal transmission of SARS was implicated in sickening hundreds in Hong Kong’s Amoy Gardens housing estate in 2003. Based on the literature, “The 2019-nCoV virus found in stool may be transmitted through faecal spread,” added Jiayu Liao, a bioengineer at the University of California, Riverside. Benjamin Neuman, a virology expert at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, cautioned that while faecal transmission was “certainly worth considering,” “droplets and touching contaminated surfaces then rubbing eyes, nose or mouth” were likely the main way the virus was transmitted based on current data.

Source: New Strait Times February 08, 2020 01:07 UTC