Gastrointestinal manifestations and detection of SARS-CoV-2 rna in rectal swab in children with COVID-19

The article describes the gastrointestinal manifestations of COVID-19 in children hospitalized in the infectious clinical hospital from January 2021 to September 2024. A retrospective analysis of 311 medical records of children with laboratory-verified COVID-19, revealed that 104 (33.4 %) patients had gastrointestinal symptoms (vomiting, watery and invasive diarrhea), while in 5 (4.3 %) of them, gastrointestinal symptoms were the only manifestation of the infectious process. It was found that children in the first year of life were significantly more likely to have hyperenzymemia (ALT and AST), compared to the group over four years old, which indicates the involvement of the liver in the pathological process in COVID-19. The study presents the experience of detecting SARS CoV-2 RNA in a rectal swab of 29 patients using PCR, for 5 of whom this study was the only confirmation of the presence of COVID-19. No significant differences were found in the frequency and duration of the gastrointestinal manifestations in children depending on the results of SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in the a rectal swab in the study groups.