CDC: "Low Possibility of COVID-19 Transmission Through Patient Blood and Excreta"

Image source=Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced on the 16th that the possibility of COVID-19 being transmitted through the blood or excreta of confirmed COVID-19 patients is very low.

In a press release on the same day, the KDCA explained, "Among 699 samples of blood and excreta obtained from 74 COVID-19 patients, 24 samples tested positive for COVID-19 genetic material. However, virus isolation tests showed no virus was isolated from the blood or excreta," adding, "This indicates that the likelihood of COVID-19 transmission through routes other than the respiratory tract is very low."

There have been occasional reports of amplification of COVID-19 viral genes in the blood and excreta of COVID-19 patients. However, it was unknown whether these were infectious.

The KDCA explained the reason why the virus was not cultured, stating, "It is possible that only a minute amount of virus was present, insufficient for culturing, or that the genetic fragments detected were from viruses that had already died and lost infectivity."

Jung Eun-kyung, Director of the KDCA, said, "We are conducting the same infectivity assessments on cases of re-positivity after COVID-19 treatment completion," and added, "We will confirm scientific management evidence through analysis of as many cases as possible."

The results of this study are expected to be published soon in a scientific paper.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.