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

Yu, Xuejing; Ran, Dongchuan; Wang, Jinhui; Qin, Yuan; Liu, Ruishan; Shi, Xueli; Wang, Yiping; Xie, Chang; Jiang, Jia; Zhou, Jianzhong

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 an older age, 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.