Article: Does Fecal-Oral Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Due to Low Sanitation Conditions Contribute to Low Mortality Rates From COVID-19.
2021 Volume 13, Issue 10, Page(s) e18557
Abstract: Background: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic generated by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The primary infection site is mucosal surfaces, mainly the lungs and the intestine, where ... ...
Abstract | Background: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic generated by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The primary infection site is mucosal surfaces, mainly the lungs and the intestine, where epithelial cells can be infected. COVID-19 has spread throughout the world, causing millions of deaths and hundreds of millions of confirmed infections. Despite the global spread of SARS-CoV-2, there are extreme differences between countries in mortality rates and confirmed infections. Methods: Pearson correlations and a t-test were performed on data from 137 countries in order to test the correlation between number of deaths from diarrheal diseases (pre-COVID-19 pandemic data) as a marker for countries' sanitation level, and the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths per million. Results: It was found that countries' prevalence of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths per million are statistically correlated with their sanitation level. Conclusions: The hypothesis proposed in this article is that the low mortality rates from COVID-19 in countries where the level of sanitation is low are due to fecal-oral infection of the population by SARS-CoV-2, rather than infection of the respiratory system. This hypothesis is supported by the protective effect of the low sanitation level presented in this work and the fact that lung infection by SARS-CoV-2 can cause severe pathology, while infection in the intestine generally causes minor or no symptoms. |
---|---|
Language | English |
Publishing date | 2021-10-07 |
Publishing country | United States |
Document type | Journal Article |
ZDB-ID | 2747273-5 |
ISSN | 2168-8184 |
ISSN | 2168-8184 |
DOI | 10.7759/cureus.18557 |
Database | MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE |
More links
Kategorien
Order via subito
This service is chargeable due to the Delivery terms set by subito. Orders including an article and supplementary material will be classified as separate orders. In these cases, fees will be demanded for each order.