# Anal swabs more effective in detecting COVID, says Chinese scientist **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [January 27, 2021, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anal-swabs-more-effective-in-detecting-covid-says-chinese-scientist/931641 "2021-01-27T20:39:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 5
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2021, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anal-swabs-more-effective-in-detecting-covid-says-chinese-scientist/931641/5 "2021-01-28T00:41:23Z")
Came up in the “Trump has COVID” last fall: > [@Trump has COVID!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-has-covid/922022/798): > > New medical study indicates that sewage may be a transmission vector for COVID. To test the hypothesis, the researchers took rectal swabs of individuals at an outbreak in China: “Their throat swabs taken on April 13 tested positive for the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) by real-time reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Subsequently, they were isolated for treatment. Their rectal swabs obtained on April 14 also tested positive.” “Now Mr President,… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anal-swabs-more-effective-in-detecting-covid-says-chinese-scientist/931641)._