Investigation of vaginal and rectal swabs of women infected with COVID-19 in two hospitals covered by Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, 2020

Abstract

Due to the emergence of COVID-19 virus worldwide and need to identify ways of transmitting the virus, we conducted a cross-sectional study from July to November 2020 on 80 women with COVID-19 infection was confirmed by nasopharyngeal proper time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We investigated SARS-CoV-2 in their vaginal and rectal swabs. The results showed that (n = 6, 7.5%) patients had positive rectal PCR and (n = 10, 12.5%) had positive vaginal PCR. There was a statistically significant relationship between positive rectal test and positive vaginal test (p=.001). Positive rectal PCR was significantly higher in women over 60 years old than in other age groups (p=.004). Impact Statement What is already known on this subject? In the past studies, the presence of the virus in the vagina and rectum was less or not confirmed. What do the results of this study add? The results of our study showed that the COVID-19 virus can infect the vagina and rectum of women. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? This finding should be considered in sexual transmission and mother to child transmission and also vaginal colonisation, especially at the time of delivery.