Nogueira Filomena, Obrova Klara, Haas Meryl, Tucek Evelyn, Kosulin Karin, Fortschegger Michaela, Fürhacker Paola, Walter Christina, Größlinger Lisa, Peter Susanne, Hassan Julia Othman, Probst Martin, Salzer Hans, Lion Thomas
Molecular Microbiology, St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Labdia Labordiagnostik GmbH, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
Microorganisms. 2022 Dec 22;11(1):33. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms11010033.
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.
儿童新冠病毒病（COVID-19）的临床病程通常较轻，可能未被诊断出来，但已有文献记载病毒在肠道内的排出时间延长，因此可能存在粪-口传播途径。然而，随粪便排出的严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2（SARS-CoV-2）病毒的传染潜力仍不清楚。在此，我们对213名儿科患者的247份粪便标本进行了调查，以评估住院的未感染或感染COVID-19儿童肠道中SARS-CoV-2病毒的排出率，并确定粪便携带病毒的感染能力。通过逆转录定量聚合酶链反应（RT-qPCR）筛查后，使用Vero-E6敏感细胞系在细胞培养中检测病毒阳性样本的感染性。通过RT-qPCR在32份（13%）粪便标本中检测到SARS-CoV-2核糖核酸（RNA），但对细胞培养中的病毒阳性样本分析显示，未发现可归因于SARS-CoV-2相关细胞损伤的细胞病变效应。我们的研究结果不支持SARS-CoV-2通过粪-口途径传播的观点，因此对旨在预防这种病毒传播方式的卫生措施的作用提出了质疑。
