Abstract
In December 2019, many people in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei, China
developed an infection and respiratory symptoms from an unknown virus.
Within a month, scientists named the novel corona-virus as 2019-nCoV,
and the WHO subsequently named the disease produced by SARS-CoV-2 as
COVID-19. Shortly, the COVID-19 rapidly spread through almost worldwide.
The WHO declared a global health emergency on January 30, 2020 and
pandemic status on March 11, 2020, respectively. Since SARS-CoV-2 RNA
was first detected in a stool specimen and the autopsy report for a man
with COVID-19 which showed segmental dilatation and stenosis in the
small intestine, much attention has been paid to the gastrointestinal
tract infection of SARS-CoV-2. Especially in the context of inflammatory
bowel disease( IBD), several questions arise. The biggest concern is if
patients with IBD have an increased or a decreased risk to suffer from
COVID-19? Although research has not figured out the susceptibility of
IBD patients to virus infection, immunosuppressive drugs were considered
potential risk factors. Besides the recommendations provided to the
general population, patients with IBD need more professional advice.