Gastrointestinal and hepatic involvement in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection

Gupta Rama* and Kaushal Vandana

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is primarily a disease of the respiratory system and is manifested by an infectious pneumonia, with fever, cough and breathlessness as the most common presenting symptoms. However quite a few number of the patients may suffer involvement of gastrointestinal system and liver. There is mild to moderate abnormality in the levels of liver enzyme observed in the patients with hepatic involvement, whereas gastrointestinal symptoms include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Nonetheless, gastrointestinal disease in COVID-19 patients may present with severe life threatening conditions, like gastrointestinal bleed, intestinal ischemia, acute liver failure and necrosis. The virus bind and invade the cells through Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2(ACE2) receptors, which are expressed not only on endothelial cells of lung alveoli but also markedly expressed on epithelial lining of the oral mucosa, intestinal mucosa and cholangiocytes. Viral RNA has also been detected from stool specimens of COVID-19 patients, even during the convalescent phase, which is a matter of concern for the transmission of the disease via fec0-oral route and needs to be elucidated.

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Published on: Jan 22, 2021 Pages: 7-10

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/2455-2283.000089
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