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Silent COVID-19 Carriers may Have Key Role in Coronavirus Spread

by Iswarya on Sep 24 2020 8:28 AM

Silent COVID-19 Carriers may Have Key Role in Coronavirus Spread
People with 'silent' or asymptomatic COVID-19 infection have as much novel coronavirus in their noses and throats as those with symptoms, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Thorax.//
Asan Medical Centre researchers in South Korea compared the viral load of 213 people, all of whom had tested positive for COVID-19, but not all of whom had symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

People infected with the COVID-19 virus, but who don't have symptoms, still carry transmissible virus potentially, known as the viral load.

During the early pandemic period following a large cluster outbreak of COVID-19 in Daegu City, South Korea, the close contacts of this cluster were traced.

This uncovered over 3,000 COVID-19 cases, ranging in symptom severity from none to severe.

People with no or mild symptoms were admitted to dedicated care facilities for isolation and monitoring.

The 213 participants of the study had been admitted to one such facility. They were classified as symptomless if they had none of the following: fever, chill, muscle pain, runny nose, blocked nose, fatigue, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, cough, dizziness, loss of appetite, headache, etc.

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Before the isolation period, an average of six days from the first swab test, approximately a fifth of people didn't develop any symptoms.

Of the remaining 172 with mild symptoms, 144 were retested, adding up to a total of 183 who were included in the final analysis.

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More than half of those without symptoms tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, as did around two-thirds of those with mild symptoms.

A significant difference in the viral load was not found between the two groups.

"Our data add additional support to the general public use of face masks, regardless of the presence of symptoms," stated study lead author Sung-Han Kim.

Further studies are required to explain whether the persistence of viral DNA in people without any symptoms warrants precautionary quarantine measures, they emphasized.

Source-Medindia


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