COVID-19 & gastroenterology: March 17 updates

A study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology highlighted findings around the novel coronavirus.

Researchers from New York City-based Mount Sinai Hospital Susan and Leonard Feinstein Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinical Center summarized recent findings around the virus and how it affects patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

What you should know:

1. IBD patients who take immunosuppressive agents should continue taking these medications. Currently, there is no evidence around how immunosuppressive agents affect COVID-19.

2. Cell entry receptor ACE2 is involved with how SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — enters the body.

3. Researchers have found SARS-CoV-2 in the stool of patients with COVID-19. The disease can be spread through respiratory droplets and secretions.

4. Patients with the virus may complain of gastrointestinal symptoms like nausea and diarrhea. These complaints could be a sign of early infection.

5. Patients with COVID-19 may have abnormalities in liver tests.

 

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