{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T16:28:58Z","timestamp":1753892938028,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,25]],"date-time":"2022-05-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1653436800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In COVID-19 infection, the emissions of droplets and aerosols produced by the respiratory tract of contaminated subjects may represent a high risk of spreading the SARS-COV-2 virus in the environment. Thus, studies have shown that there is, at least, another source of droplets and aerosols in which viral particles of SARS-COV-2 can be found. It happens after flushing of toilet to dispose of the stools of a patient who has contracted COVID-19. The presence of viral particles of SARS-COV-2 in the stool could be linked to the concentration of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) found on the surface of intestinal cells. Therefore, there is a reason to wonder whether the emission of viral particles by activating a toilet flush could represent an important potential risk of contamination for health care workers. To investigate this hypothesis, we have correlated different studies on the production of droplets and aerosols as well as the presence of viral particles following flush of toilet. This pooling of these studies led to the following conclusion: the precautionary principle should be applied with regard to the potential risk represented by viral particles of SARV-COV-2 in the stool when flushing the toilet.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2022.892290","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,25]],"date-time":"2022-05-25T07:53:42Z","timestamp":1653465222000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Importance of the Precautionary Principle With Regard to the Risk of Exposure to Aerosols Containing Viral Loads of SARS-CoV-2 Present in Feces: In Perspective"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Richard","family":"Massicotte","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mafu Akier","family":"Assanta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kakese Mukosa","family":"Rosette","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,5,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1699","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(04)16255-7","article-title":"Viral shedding patterns of coronavirus in patients with probable severe acute respiratory syndrome","volume":"363","year":"2004","journal-title":"Lancet."},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"165","DOI":"10.1007\/s10096-005-1299-5","article-title":"Pe rsistent shedding of viable SARS-CoV in urine and stool of SARS patients during the convalescent phase","volume":"24","author":"Xu","year":"2005","journal-title":"Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis."},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"469","DOI":"10.1080\/22221751.2020.1732837","article-title":"Detectable 2019-nCoV viral RNA in blood is a strong indicator for the further clinical severity","volume":"9","author":"Chen","year":"2020","journal-title":"Emerg Microbes Infect."},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"301","DOI":"10.3201\/eid2606.200301","article-title":"Detection of novel coronavirus by RT-PCR in stool specimen from asymptomatic child, China","volume":"26","author":"Tang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Emerg Infect Dis"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1831","DOI":"10.1053\/j.gastro.2020.02.055","article-title":"Evidence for gastrointestinal infection of SARS-CoV-2","volume":"158","author":"Xiao","year":"2020","journal-title":"Gastroenterology"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"363","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijid.2020.04.057","article-title":"Review Potential fecal transmission of SARS-CoV-2: Current evidence and implications for public health review","volume":"95","author":"Amirian","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int J Infect Dis."},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.1001\/jamanetworkopen.2020.11335","article-title":"Gastroenterology and hepatology prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms and fecal viral shedding in patients with coronavirus disease 2019. 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