Chinese Researchers: Coronavirus Can be Transmitted Through Rimming
Researchers in China have turned their attention - and their microscopes - to the possibility that coronavirus can be transmitted through "fecal-oral transmission," which includes, among other things, rimming.
Their findings were published in the journal Gastroenterology and are, in part, as follows:
After viral entry, virus-specific RNA and proteins are synthesized in the cytoplasm to assembly new virions, which can be released to gastrointestinal tract. The continuous positive detection of the viral RNA from feces suggests that the infectious virions are secreted from the virus-infected gastrointestinal cells. Recently, we and others have isolated infectious SARS-CoV-2 from stool (Manuscript under revision), confirming the release of the infectious virions to the gastrointestinal tract.
Therefore, fecal-oral transmission could be an additional route for viral spread. Prevention of fecal-oral transmission should be taken into consideration to control the spread the virus.
SARS-CoV-2 is another designation for COVID-19, or coronavirus.
Ordinarily, researchers investigating "fecal-oral transmission" are looking at the possibility that drinking water might be contaminated by feces, or that people might transmit the virus by not washing their hands after using the restroom. Because virus-carrying moisture can easily penetrate toilet paper, unwashed hands can become a means of transmitting viral particles.
But sexual practices that bring a person's mouth into proximity to a sexual partner's anus could also be a means for the virus to spread, and that is true regardless of the gender or sexual orientations of those involved in such acts. Viruses, after all, are opportunistic, and have no motive or agenda other than to infect new hosts.
UK news source Pink News, which broke the story, notes another implication suggested by the research:
...people who test negative for coronavirus via the conventional testing method may still be able to infect people who come into contact with their feces.
Hand washing, medical professionals note, is one of the easiest and more effective ways to reduce the spread of pathogens such as germs and viruses.