[set fair (OP)]

Since diarrhea is a fairly common symptom might we see its spread by water? Could be a good thing if your immune system gets on top of the virus before it hits the lungs or could be a disater.

[Colin2B]

Could be a good thing if your immune system gets on top of the virus before it hits the lungs

There are reports that the virus can be transferred in faeces, but you have to look at how it is transferred.
The skin is pretty good at keeping this type of viruses out unless you have a cut. So we are looking at contaminated hands transferring to mouth or face and so to throat/lungs.

[evan_au]

The mouth and gut is a pretty toxic environment for biological molecules.
- There are enzymes that break down proteins, and acidic and alkaline zones.
- But some pathogens have structures that resist these attacks, and go on to infect the gut.

But if the virus occurs in the water supply, there are numerous ways that the water can reach the face and nose - through washing, for example.
- Chlorination is very tough on biological molecules - that is a good protection for countries with chlorination of water supplies.

[chris]

There was evidence for faecal oral spread of SARS so people were concerned that SARS CoV 2 might behave the same way. At the moment we're still learning, so we don't know for sure if this is occurring to a significant degree.

But, the high frequency of people presenting with gi symptoms at the onset of covid19 symptoms suggests there may be intestinal involvement as part of the pathology. The ACE2 receptor used by the virus is expressed quite strongly in the intestine, so this is biologically plausible.

It might be that initial infection occurs in the upper respiratory tract, and the virus washes into the gi tract and secondarily infects there.

I suspect that clarity will emerge as time goes on.

[RD]

There was evidence for faecal oral spread of SARS so people were concerned that SARS CoV 2 might behave the same way. At the moment we're still learning, so we don't know for sure if this is occurring to a significant degree ...

There was extensive environmental contamination by 1 SARS-CoV-2 patient with mild upper respiratory tract involvement. Toilet bowl and sink samples were positive, suggesting that viral shedding in stool could be a potential route of transmission.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2762692