Gastrointestinal manifestations with COVID-19 virus infection: A Moroccan prospective study

Gastrointestinal manifestations are common during coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection. They can occur before respiratory symptoms, resulting in a diagnostic delay and an increased risk of disease transmission. The current study reports major gastrointestinal manifestations as initial symptoms of COVID-19.

This prospective, descriptive, cross-sectional, and single-center study of 713 cases was conducted in a field hospital in Morocco over a 5-week period from June 21 to July 25, 2020.

The average age of our patients was 31.95 years. Clinically, on admission, anorexia was the main symptom, present in 32.3% of patients. Gastrointestinal manifestations were present in 14.9% of patients, including watery diarrhea in 8.6% of cases, nausea and/or vomiting in 4.6% of cases, and abdominal pain in 1.6% of cases. Six hundred thirty-two patients were treated in accordance with one of the two therapeutic protocols recommended by the National Ministry of Health. The treatment-related effects that occurred in 61.4% of patients were primarily digestive in 55.3% of cases. In multivariate analysis, following adjustment of the studied parameters, only the presence of gastrointestinal manifestations (odds ratio [OR]: 1.478 confidence interval [CI]: 1.286-1.698; p < 0.001) and treatment side effects (OR = 1.069, CI: 1.020-1.119, p = 0.005) altered the rate of negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on day 10.

Gastrointestinal manifestations are common during COVID-19 and seem to be linked to a longer duration of disease. SARS-CoV-2 (the causative virus of COVID-19) can persist in the digestive tract, with the possibility of fecal-oral transmission. Therefore, hygiene is extremely important, especially handwashing and strict precautions when performing gastrointestinal endoscopy and handling stools from infected patients.