key: cord-0818264-lpl916sx
authors: Yu, Xianqiang
title: Pay Attention to Distinguish Hepatitis from Novel Coronavirus Hepatitis in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic
date: 2021-01-11
journal: Am J Gastroenterol
DOI: 10.14309/ajg.0000000000001144
sha: 0a889c6ff5567832ca90e0cff0fd1a3f719561b8
doc_id: 818264
cord_uid: lpl916sx

nan

It should be emphasized that the gastrointestinal symptoms of COVID-19 can be confused easily with other gastrointestinal diseases, including hepatitis. This makes clinical diagnosis and treatment more difficult. To the best of our knowledge, hepatitis is a digestive tract disease mainly characterized by abdominal and constitutional symptoms, which are obviously easily confused with the abdominal symptoms of COVID-19. Given this consideration, we have come up with these new concepts-COVID-19 is mainly characterized by abdominal symptoms, hepatitis combined with COVID-19, and novel coronavirus hepatitis. It is easy to distinguish these concepts literally.

Hepatitis combined with COVID-19 means that the occurrence of the 2 diseases overlaps in time but is not cause and effect. However, novel coronavirus hepatitis indicates that hepatitis is caused by novel coronavirus infection. Novel coronavirus has been successfully isolated from liver tissue, implying a risk of novel coronavirus hepatitis (2) . This means that novel coronavirus has a potential risk of triggering hepatitis because viral infection of the liver is the main cause of hepatitis. Therefore, clinicians should always remind themselves whether the hepatitis they are dealing with is directly caused by novel coronavirus infection. However, we are not sure of the pathological and clinical characteristics of novel coronavirus hepatitis. Therefore, this concept is of great significance for subsequent research and clinical work.

Because the pandemic continues to spread and worsen, it is of great importance to accurately judge hepatitis in clinical practice. More studies are needed to confirm the pathological and clinical characteristics of novel coronavirus hepatitis, so as to better serve the clinical application. After all, we do not want to cause missed diagnosis or misdiagnosis of novel coronavirus-related diseases.

Guarantor of the article: Xianqiang Yu, PhD. Specific author contributions: X.Y. completed the design and writing of the article all the content. Financial support: Scholarship of Southeast University (Project No. 189351). Potential competing interests: None to report.

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Correspondence: Xianqiang Yu

Gastrointestinal (GI) patients with diarrheal diseases have complained to me, their gastroenterologist, about recently closed public bathroom facilities due to COVID-19 pandemic after they suddenly, urgently required bathroom facilities while driving due to abdominal cramps, abdominal pain, or fecal soiling from diarrhea. I recently confirmed this finding. I drove about 3 miles each way on Woodward Avenue, Royal Oak, a busy commercial strip in suburban Detroit, looking for a bathroom after experiencing sudden, crampy abdominal pain associated with diarrhea, but all 5 public commercial establishments, including banks, gas stations, and a large dental clinic, refused me bathroom access after closing their previously open bathrooms due to the pandemic. I traveled several miles further to a hospital to use a public bathroom, thereby wasting 45 minutes.Similarly, inadequate public bathroom facilities at hospitals or freestanding ambulatory GI endoscopy suites present a problem to GI patients. I am employed as an academic clinical gastroenterologist at one of the busiest GI endoscopy units in the country performing about 25,000 GI endoscopies