In vitro digestion of SARS-CoV-2 contaminated berries reveals high inactivation of infectious virus during gastrointestinal passage.
Appl Environ Microbiol
; 89(12): e0133923, 2023 12 21.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37982639
ABSTRACT
IMPORTANCE During the pandemic, news outlets occasionally reported on the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) RNA on various foods, raising concerns over contaminated foods initiating infections. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients often experience gastrointestinal symptoms and shed SARS-CoV-2 RNA in their feces. In addition, active virus replication in the gastrointestinal tract was shown; however, infectious viruses were rarely detected in feces. We previously showed that SARS-CoV-2 remained infectious on frozen berries for at least a month. Here, in vitro digestion models showed that SARS-CoV-2 on berries exhibits minimal inactivation at the oral phase and the virus may escape gastric inactivation early during feeding. However, high intestinal inactivation of the virus on berries suggested that SARS-CoV-2 was less likely to initiate infection in the small intestine. In contrast, the oral cavity is a potential site where infection might be initiated, providing more input for the gastrointestinal tract. High intestinal inactivation might explain the difficulty of detecting infectious SARS-CoV-2 in feces but not of virus RNA.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Appl Environ Microbiol
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos