





A Review of Gastrointestinal Aspects of COVID-19 Disease
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The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is currently causing a major pandemic. It is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a member of the Betacoronavirus genus that also includes the SARS-CoV and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). While patients typically present with fever and a respiratory illness, some patients also report gastrointestinal symptoms such as anorexia, diar-rhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Studies have identified the SARS-CoV-2 RNA in stool specimens of infected patients, and its viral receptor angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) was found to be highly expressed in gastrointestinal tract. This has important implications to the disease management, transmission, and infection con-trol. In this article, we review the important gastrointestinal aspects of the disease.
Keywords
COVID-19, ACE2 Receptor, Hepatitis, IBD, Endoscopy.
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