Table 1.
Literature results on presence of SARS-CoV-2 in faeces and urine.
| References | Number of tested patients | Tested samples |
Main findings | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faeces | Urine | |||
| Wang et al. (2020) | 153 | ● | N.T. | From 153 patients (68 % male) with COVID-19, faeces show positivity in 44 cases (29 %). Ct value of faeces excreted by patients was higher than 30 (< 2.6 × 104 copies/mL) |
| Xu et al. (2020a,Xu et al., 2020b | 10 | ● | N.T. | Viral shedding from the digestive system might be greater and last longer than that from the respiratory tract. Ct value of faeces excreted by patients was in the range 22−40 |
| Xiao et al. (2020) | 73 | ● | ● | Faeces and urine were tested positive. The test result for SARS-CoV-2 RNA remained positive in faeces, even after test results for the respiratory tract converted to negative. Potential faecal-oral transmission can last even after viral clearance in the respiratory tract |
| Ling et al. (2020) | 55 (faeces) | ● | ● | The positivity of urine samples was low with only 4 positive results (6.9 %), viral RNA in urine samples from 3 patients remained tested positive after throat swabs turned negative. In 43 cases (78.2 %) had longer duration for faeces specimens detected negative for viral RNA than throat swabs, with median delay of 2.0 days |
| 58 (urine) | ||||
| Lo et al. (2020) | 10 | ● | ● | There were positive SARS-CoV-2 RNA signals in all faeces specimens (100 %) but negative in all urine specimens (0%). The assessment of both faecal and respiratory specimen is recommended |
| Jin et al. (2020) | 9 | ● | ● | Relatively low detection rate for virus in the faeces (3 of 9 patients). The Authors suggested further investigation |
| Cai et al. (2020) | 6 | ● | ● | Urine from 100 % of patient were tested negative. 83 % of faeces analysed showed the presence of the virus. In 50 % of cases the duration of virus shedding in faeces was higher than 20 days |
| Holshue et al. (2020) | 1 | ● | ● | Ct value of faeces excreted by patient on illness day 7 was in the range 36−38. Urine was tested negative |
| Lescure et al. (2020) | 5 | ● | ● | No urine samples were tested positive. In 40 % of patients, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in the faeces up to 19 days after onset symptoms |
| Zhang et al. (2020) | 23 | ● | ● | All urine samples were negative except for two severe cases. The median duration of virus shedding was 22 d for the faeces (with peak of 26 d), more than double with respect to nasal-throat mixed swabs (10 d) |
| Pan et al. (2020) | 2 | ● | ● | In urine and faeces no SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected |
| 17 | ● | n.a. | No in urine and faeces. In 53 % of samples SARS-CoV-2 RNA was found. Viral loads range from 550 copies mL−1 to 1.21 × 10⁵ copies mL−1 | |
| Chen et al. (2020b) | 42 | ● | N.T. | More than 65 % of patients were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 RNA in faeces. After the pharyngeal swabs turned negative, the faeces of 18 patients remained positive (virus shedding equals to 6–10 d) |
N.T.: not tested; n.a.: not available.