Coronavirus May Transmit Along Fecal-Oral Route, Xinhua Reports

  • 2019-nCoV virus discovered in patient stool and rectal swabs
  • Diarrhea is an early symptom in some patients, doctors found
WATCH: The transmissibility of the virus is "very, very fast,” according to J. Stephen Morrison of the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ Global Health Policy Center.Source: Bloomberg
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The coronavirus that’s infected more than 14,000 people in two dozen countries may be transmitted through the digestive tract, Chinese state media reported.

Virus genetic material was discovered in patient stool and rectal swabs, Xinhua said Sunday. The finding was made by scientists from the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University and the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences after noting that some patients infected with the 2019-nCoV virus had diarrhea early in the disease, instead of a fever, which is more common, the report said.