Intestinal Shedding of SARS-CoV-2 in Children: No Evidence for Infectious Potential

Filomena Nogueira; Klara Obrova; Meryl Haas; Evelyn Tucek; Karin Kosulin; Michaela Fortschegger; Paola Fürhacker; Christina Walter; Lisa Größlinger; Susanne Peter; Julia Othman Hassan; Martin Probst; Hans Salzer; Thomas Lion

Intestinal Shedding of SARS-CoV-2 in Children: No Evidence for Infectious Potential

2022

The clinical courses of COVID-19 in children are often mild and may remain undiagnosed, but prolonged intestinal virus shedding has been documented, thus potentially enabling fecal–oral transmission. However, the infectious potential of SARS-CoV-2 viruses excreted with feces has remained unclear. Here, we investigated 247 stool specimens from 213 pediatric patients to assess the prevalence of intestinal SARS-CoV-2 shedding in hospitalized children without or with COVID-19 and determined the infectious capacity of stool-borne viruses. Upon RT-qPCR screening, the infectivity of virus-positive samples was tested in cell culture using the Vero-E6 permissive cell line. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected by RT-qPCR in 32 (13%) stool specimens, but the analysis of virus-positive samples in cell culture revealed no cytopathic effects attributable to SARS-CoV-2-related cell damage. Our findings do not support the notion of potential fecal–oral SARS-CoV-2 spreading, thus questioning the role of hygienic measures designed to prevent this mode of viral transmission.

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