Asymptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) carriers: are they infectious?

Wong, Yen Shen and Muhamad, Dzawani and How, Soon Hin and Mohamed, Mohamed Sapian and Mohd Arif, Nasrah and Soh, Tze Vee and Mohd Hashim, Suzana and Abdullah, Norazmi (2020) Asymptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) carriers: are they infectious? American Journal of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, 8 (3). pp. 113-117. ISSN 2328-4056 E-ISSN 2328-4064

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Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is highly contagious in symptomatic patients as it is thought to be transmitted through respiratory droplets. However, it is debatable whether asymptomatic COVID-19 patients are contagious due to lack of data. From 1st March to 15th April 2020, a total of 247 COVID-19 cases were admitted to Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital and 1010 close contacts were identified. We studied the epidemiological and clinical outcomes in asymptomatic subjects, as well as estimated the metrics of disease transmission between asymptomatic, symptomatic, and pneumonia subjects. From a total of 125 asymptomatic subjects, majority (n=116,92.8%) remained asymptomatic upon discharge. Only 9 (7.2%) subjects developed mild symptoms after admission. Seven subjects had abnormal chest radiograph suggestive of pneumonia, and 22 subjects (17.6%) were found to have mild liver impairment. None of the asymptomatic subjects required oxygen support, inotropic support or ICU care during admission. Fifteen second generation COVID-19 cases were found transmitted from the asymptomatic group, with an attack rate of 3.9%, which was statistically significantly lower compared to the symptomatic (7.6%) or pneumonia groups (25.7%, p<0.001). In conclusion, asymptomatic COVID-19 patients show excellent clinical outcome. They are infectious but had a lower transmission risk compared with symptomatic or pneumonia patients.

Item Type:	Article (Journal)
Additional Information:	2987/82935
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, clinical outcome, Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Transmission risk
Subjects:	R Medicine > R Medicine (General) R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Medicine Kulliyyah of Medicine > Department of Internal Medicine
Depositing User:	Miss Noor Shafiruz Ahmad
Date Deposited:	15 Sep 2020 15:24
Last Modified:	13 Oct 2020 11:50
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/82935

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