However, the World Health Organization still only lists diarrhea as a gastrointestinal Covid-19 symptom. The US Centers for Disease Control has added diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting to its list of recognized Covid-19 symptoms. This is a similar way to how gastroenteritis (gastro) causes abdominal pain.Īnother explanation for the pain is that Covid-19 can lead to a sudden loss of blood supply to abdominal organs, such as the kidneys, resulting in tissue death (infarction). Some people believe Covid-19 causes abdominal pain through inflammation of the nerves of the gut. In another study only about 2% of Covid-19 patients had abdominal pain. The most common was diarrhea followed by nausea and vomiting. What type of gut symptoms are we talking about?Ī review of more than 25,000 Covid-19 patients found about 18% had gastrointestinal symptoms. In other words, the virus can be shed in someone’s poo, and then transmitted to someone else if they handle it and touch their mouth.

We also suspect the virus can be transmitted via the fecal-oral route.

That leads to a high level of virus and longer-lasting disease. That’s partly because even after the virus has been cleared from the respiratory system, it can persist in the gut of some patients for several days. And the greatest numbers of ACE2 receptors are in the cells that line the gut.Ĭovid-19 patients with gut symptoms are also more likely to develop severe disease. In fact, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, enters our cells by latching onto protein receptors called ACE2. Media reports earlier this week described a Queensland nurse with stomach pains who went on to test positive for Covid-19.Ĭould stomach pains be another symptom of Covid-19? And if you have stomach pains, should you get tested?Īlthough we might think of Covid-19 as a respiratory disease, we know it involves the gut.

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