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Excretion and detection of SARS coronavirus and its nucleic acid from digestive system
Xin-Wei Wang1, Jin-Song Li, Ting-Kai Guo
1Tianjin Institute of Environment and Health, Tianjin 300050, China.
Aim:
To study whether severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) could be excreted from digestive system.
Methods:
Cell culture and semi-nested RT-PCR were used to detect SARS-CoV and its RNA from 21 stool and urine samples, and a kind of electropositive filter media particles was used to concentrate the virus in 10 sewage samples from two hospitals receiving SARS patients in Beijing in China.
Results:
It was demonstrated that there was no live SARS-CoV in all samples collected, but the RNA of SARS-CoV could be detected in seven stool samples from SARS patients with any one of the symptoms of fever, malaise, cough, or dyspnea, in 10 sewage samples before disinfection and 3 samples after disinfection from the two hospitals. The RNA could not be detected in urine and stool samples from patients recovered from SARS.
Conclusion:
Nucleic acid of SARS-CoV can be excreted through the stool of patients into sewage system, and the possibility of SARS-CoV transmitting through digestive system cannot be excluded.
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