Observational analysis found that oral infection spreads SARS-CoV-2 in hamsters, indicating potential health implications for humans.
The digestive tropism of SARS-CoV-2 due to the presence of the same ACE2 receptor in the digestive system as in the respiratory system raised the question of the role of fecal-oral transmission in the pandemic. The aim of this study was to explore oral infection in hamsters model. SARS-CoV-2 inoculation via the oral and intranasal routes resulted in comparable infection in hamsters. In addition to implications for human health, oral infection could have implications for potential animal reservoirs.
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Picard‐Meyer et al. (2025) studied this question.
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