March 5, 2020

expert comment about whether coronavirus can be spread via urine or faeces

Response to journalist questions as to whether coronavirus can be spread via urine or faeces.

Prof John Edmunds, Professor in the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said:

“It isn’t a very pleasant thought, but every time you swallow, you swallow mucus from your upper respiratory tract.  In fact, this is an important defensive mechanism.  This sweeps viruses and bacteria down into our gut where they are denatured in the acid conditions of our stomachs.  With modern, very highly sensitive detection mechanisms we can detect these viruses in faeces.  Usually, viruses we can detect in this way are not infectious to others, as they have been destroyed by our guts.”

All our previous output on this subject can be seen at this weblink:

http://www.sciencemediacentre.org/tag/covid-19

The SMC also produced a Factsheet on COVID-19 which is available here:

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/smc-novel-coronavirus-factsheet/

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