COVID-19 and Gastrointestinal Symptoms
A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Coronaviruses".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 February 2024) | Viewed by 14164
Special Issue Editor
Interests: infectious diseases; SARS-CoV-2; ACE2; COVID-19 physiopathology; enterocytes; intercellular junctions; long COVID-19
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Common symptoms associated with the SARS-CoV-2 infection are fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Due to the huge mobilization of the clinical teams to prevent and treat cases of patients with silent or severe hypoxia after SARS-CoV-2 infection, the study of intestinal disorders has often been considered secondary and has attracted too few research teams. However, gastrointestinal symptoms such as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, are among the most commonly reported extrapulmonary clinical features of SARS-CoV-2 infections. The viral receptor ACE2 was found in the small intestine with the highest expression observed in the brush border of intestinal enterocytes where it functions as a chaperone for the expression of the neutral amino acid transporter B0AT1 and forms a complex with the aminopeptidase N. SARS-CoV-2 has been found able to replicate in the intestine and to impair the gastrointestinal barrier integrity. The virus was also identified in the stool.
In this Special Issue, we will focus on important questions to be answered about the route of infection of intestinal cells (e.g., animal models, full genome sequencing of intestinal strains of SARS-CoV-2 versus pulmonary isolates, viral tropism, structure and function of intestinal ACE2, clinical aspects), and the physio-pathological consequences of the infection of these cells (e.g., the virulence of SARS-CoV-2 intestinal isolates, micro-damage to the epithelium barrier, modulation in the diversity of bacterial species present in the GIT, deregulation of the immune response, pro-inflammation, invasion of distant host organs/tissues). The association of SARS-CoV-2 at the intestinal level with post-acute COVID-19 (also called long COVID-19), suggesting that the intestine could serve as a post-COVID-19 reservoir of SARS-CoV-2, is also a major scope of this Special Issue.
Priority will be given to original research papers but reviews will also be considered for publication.
Dr. Christian Albert Devaux
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- COVID-19
- route of infection
- enterocytes infection
- long COVID-19
- physiopathology
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