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Coronavirus Lurking in Feces May Reveal Hidden Risk of Spread

  • Squat latrines, common in China, may be a virus source
  • 2019-nCoV virus was found in loose stool of case in Washington
An electron microscopic image of the 2019 novel coronavirus grown in cells at the University of Hong Kong.
An electron microscopic image of the 2019 novel coronavirus grown in cells at the University of Hong Kong.Source: The University of Hong Kong
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While doctors have focused on respiratory samples from pneumonia cases to identify coronavirus patients, they might have ignored a less apparent and hidden source of the spread: diarrhea.

The novel coronavirus was detected in the loose stool of the first U.S. case -- a finding that hasn’t featured among case reports from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the outbreak. However, that doesn’t surprise scientists who have studied coronaviruses, nor doctors familiar with the bug that caused SARS.