Asymptomatic men, women and children carry diseases without showing symptoms health professionals associate with them. This is a real problem during the pandemic we are going through. That’s because it removes the first line of defense. Researchers at several South Korean universities found asymptomatics carried the same amount of virus as those displaying normal symptoms.
Do Asymptomatics Carrying Same Amount of Virus Pass Infections?
There’s growing evidence infected people could pass their disease on, even though they do not show warning signs themselves. However, the researchers at several South Korean universities were unable to quantify the rate with which they do so. But they were able to assess the amount of virus they were carrying, using swabs.
They took nose and throat tests from 1,886 infected patients with, and without symptoms. And they repeated this process regularly until further testing revealed they were all negative after a median 17 days. The researchers concluded their asymptomatics carried the same amount of virus as their symptomatic patients.
How Could This knowledge Help Us to Contain the Coronavirus?
The 1,886 patients were a largely representative sample, although they were chosen from an artificial group. Their median age was 25 in a range of 22 to 36, while 66.3% were women. Approximately 36% of patients were asymptomatic on arrival. Some 20% developed symptoms in isolation during a median period of 15 days, in a range of 13 to 20 days.
We append a link to the South Korean university report below. We find it begs the question what to do about the asymptomatic population now we know they carry the same amount of virus. The researchers conclude that ‘isolation of asymptomatic patients may be necessary to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2’. However, this does not mean they have a hacking cough spraying infected droplets through the air.
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