Intestinal viral infections of nSARS‐CoV2 in the Indian community: Risk of virus spread in India

• Published in: Journal of medical virology 2022-04, Vol.94 (4), p.1315-1329
• Main Authors: Maan, Harjeet S., Chaurasia, Deepti, Kapoor, Garima, Dave, Lokendra, Siddiqui, Arshi, Pal, Savita, Singh, Hari O., Biswas, Debasis, Chowdhary, Rashmi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Contamination; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - prevention & control; COVID-19 - transmission; COVID-19 - virology; COVID19; Diagnosis; Disease transmission; Disease Transmission, Infectious - prevention & control; Faecal material; Feces; Feces - virology; Gastrointestinal Diseases - epidemiology; Gastrointestinal Diseases - prevention & control; Gastrointestinal Diseases - virology; Gastrointestinal symptoms; gastrointestinal tract; Gastrointestinal Tract - virology; Genetic diversity; Health risks; Hospitals; Humans; Hygiene; Income; India - epidemiology; Infections; Intensive care units; Literature reviews; Microbiota; Novel SARS‐CoV2; Respiratory diseases; Review; Reviews; Risk; Sanitation; SARS-CoV-2 - genetics; SARS-CoV-2 - isolation & purification; Search engines; Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Sewage; Sewage - virology; Sewage and sewage treatment; Viral diseases; Viral infections; viral transmission; Virology; Viruses; Wastewater; Wastewater pollution; Water pollution; Water Purification; Water resources; Water treatment
• ISSN: 0146-6615; 1096-9071; 1096-9071
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.27480

In December 2019, novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (nSARS‐CoV‐2) virus outbreaks emerged from Wuhan, China, and spread all over the world, including India. Molecular diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID) 19 for densely and highly populated countries like India is time‐consuming. A few reports have described the successful diagnosis of nSARS‐CoV‐2 virus from sewage and wastewater samples contaminated with fecal matter, suggesting the diagnosis of COVID 19 from the same to raise an alarm about the community transmission of virus for implementation of evacuation and lockdown strategies. So far, the association between the detection of virus and its concentration in stool samples with severity of the disease and the presence or absence of gastrointestinal symptoms have been rarely reported. We led the search utilizing multiple databases, specifically PubMed (Medline), EMBASE, and Google Scholar. We conducted a literature survey on gastrointestinal infection and the spread of this virus through fecal–oral transmission. Reports suggested that the existence and persistence of nSARS‐CoV‐2 in anal/rectal swabs and stool specimens for a longer period of time than in nasopharyngeal swabs provides a strong tenable outcome of gastrointestinal contamination and dissemination of this infection via potential fecal–oral transmission. This review may be helpful to conduct further studies to address the enteric involvement and excretion of nSARS‐CoV‐2 RNA in feces and control the community spread in both COVID‐19 patients ahead of the onset of symptoms and in asymptomatic individuals through wastewater and sewage surveillance as an early indication of infection. The existence of the viral genome and active viral particle actively participate in genomic variations. Hence, we comprehended the enteric spread of different viruses amongst communities with special reference to nSARS‐CoV‐2. Highlights The study concludes here that the faecal route of nSARS‐CoV2 not only enhances risk of infection and COVID19 cases but also contaminate water resources. The hospital and intensive care units (ICU) were reported with higher viral load and risk of nSARS‐CoV2 infections. These cases are not only due to aerosol‐based infections in contained area but also faecal material based infections as well. Poor hygiene and sanitation as primary concerns in low‐income nations are associated with higher risk of nSARS‐CoV2 infections and COVID19 cases. The faecal material p