




Covid-19 Info Team
- Aug 1, 2020
- 1 min
89






Covid-19 Info Team
- Jul 15, 2020
- 1 min
172
Of the 178 laboratory-confirmed patients, 37 who never developed any symptoms throughout the disease course were included in this study, this equates to 20.8% of patients having asymptomatic infections.
The proportion of asymptomatic infections might be even higher as some cases might be missed by RT–PCR testing. The study successfully identified seven patients who had active SARS-CoV-2 infection from 148 cases that had negative RT–PCR results and no symptoms by using an antibody test
A possible reversal of previously documented data, among asymptomatic patients it was found the median duration of viral shedding was 19 days, compared to 14 days for those who had mild symptoms.
Asymptomatic individuals exhibited lower levels of 18 different pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines. These data suggest that asymptomatic individuals had a weaker immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Do note, reduced duration of viral shedding is not the same as viral load ( the amount of viral particles expelled in respiratory droplets) – these two separate factors are a separate variable this study did not test for.
Recent circulating information suggest it is likely the number of asymptomatic, ‘silent’ COVID-19 infections are clearly more prevalent than initial estimates.
Some asymptomatic patients may act as COVID-19 ‘super spreaders’, but this study demonstrates that is probable that they will not be contagious for as long as comparable symptomatic patients.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2766237