WUHAN — Chinese experts warned that the novel coronavirus could be transmitted through the digestive system, according to the latest findings.

They found viral nucleic acids in patients' stool and rectal swabs after they noticed that the initial symptom of some patients infected with the coronavirus was diarrhea only, instead of a fever, which is more common.

The latest findings resulted from joint research by experts from the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University and the Wuhan Institute of Virology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China's top research body in natural sciences.

The research team believes that the novel coronavirus still has certain fecal-oral transmission, aside from droplet and contact transmissions.