Viral Transmission and Clinical Features in Asymptomatic Carriers of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China

Frontiers in Medicine

article

Fen Tan¹  Kaige Wang²  Jiasheng Liu³  Dan Liu²  Jianfei Luo³  Rui Zhou¹ 

[1] Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Respiratory Disease Research Institute of Hunan Province, Central South University;Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University;Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University

关键词: SARS-CoV-2;    COVID-19;    asymptomatic carrier;    transmission ability;    clinical features;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmed.2020.00547

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

We report the clinical characteristics, viral shedding duration, and contact tracing for asymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, China. The asymptomatic carriers were relatively young (median age: 34.5 years). Chest computed tomography showed no abnormalities. The nasopharyngeal swab was an optimum specimen for RNA testing. The median viral shedding duration was 11.5 days. Notably, 2 months of viral shedding duration were reported in two nurses, which was much longer than previously reported or than usually thought. The transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 by asymptomatic carriers during the studied period in Wuhan appeared to be weak. Only one patient (1/12) was found to have transmitted the virus to another person. Early asymptomatic carrier detection, isolation, and contact tracing could be useful to mitigate the spread of the disease.

【 授权许可】

CC BY