The Time Sequences of Respiratory and Rectal Viral Shedding in Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019.

Recent studies have found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) could be detected in fecal samples and that the live virus could be successfully isolated from stool and used for successful infection in cell cultures, indicating a possible fecal-oral transmission.1-3 Although important for disease management, information on the time sequences of oral and fecal viral shedding in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) needs more investigation.1,4 In this study, we tested in 401 patients with COVID-19 for viral RNA in both respiratory and rectal specimens and tracked them for more than 7 weeks to present a clear elucidation of the respiratory and rectal viral shedding profile, such as the duration, viral load, and relationship to patient symptoms.