Infection and Drug Resistance (Sep 2020)
Asymptomatic Subclinical Cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 without Viral Transmission in Three Independent Families
Abstract
Xian Zhang,1,* Liting Chen,2,* Jia Wei,2 Jianfeng Zhou,2 Yang Cao,2 Gaoxiang Wang2 1Department of Ophthalmology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Hematology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Gaoxiang Wang; Yang CaoDepartment of Hematology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei 430030, People’s Republic of ChinaTel/Fax +86 27-83662680Email [email protected]; [email protected]: There is increasing evidence indicating that considerable fractions of cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection are asymptomatic. We traced three asymptomatic clusters to investigate the infectivity of subclinical cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Patients and Methods: Three medical staff who were asymptomatic were diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 by serological tests. Their close contacts were systematically evaluated based on COVID-19-related symptoms, nucleic acid tests, serological tests, and chest computed tomography (CT) as needed to determine if they were infected by SARS-CoV-2.Results: None of the staff’s close contacts, including 10 family members, were infected by the indexes, even though no protective measures were taken.Conclusion: The infectivity of asymptomatic subclinical infection patients of coronavirus disease 2019 seems to be low.Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, asymptomatic, close contact, infectivity
