Genes & Diseases

Genes & Diseases

Volume 7, Issue 4, December 2020, Pages 558-566
Genes & Diseases

Full Length Article
Unclear but present danger: An asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carrier

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gendis.2020.07.010Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Abstract

Superspreaders are critical infectious resources in multiple infectious diseases. They can be asymptomatic or present mild symptoms but can transmit pathogens to susceptible populations, leading to severe symptoms, and even death. Early identification of this population is extremely important to inhibit the spread of infectious diseases. Right now, the whole global world is suffering from a devastating infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this article, a superspreader cluster event in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was identified by tracking contacting histories of infected patients. This cluster was found to be originated from an asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 carrier, which resulted in 13 secondary cases getting infected. All the secondary patients presented with non-typical symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever, dry cough, and myalgia, one of which died of respiratory failure at the end. From this cluster, we learn that people with older ages, low immunity, multiple underlying diseases, especially pulmonary diseases, can contribute to a poor prognosis. Thus, asymptomatic superspreaders of COVID-19 can be extremely dangerous and must be handled time-efficiently.

Keywords

Asymptomatic
Coronavirus
COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
Superspreader

Cited by (0)

Peer review under responsibility of Chongqing Medical University.

1

Contributed equally.