Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Different Types of Clinical Specimens

An epidemic of respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) began in China and has spread to other countries. Real-time reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) of nasopharyngeal swabs typically has been used to confirm the clinical diagnosis. However, whether the virus can be detected in specimens from other sites, and therefore potentially transmitted in other ways than by respiratory droplets, is unknown.