Presumed Asymptomatic Carrier Transmission of COVID-19

Corresponding author: Meiyun Wang

Affiliation:  Department of Medical Imaging, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital and the People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou University.

Publication date: Published online on February 21, 2020

DOI: 10.1001/jama.2020.2565

Highlights

In this article, the researchers in China reported a familial cluster of five patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in Anyang, China, had contact before had contact before their symptom onset with an asymptomatic family member who had traveled from the epidemic center of Wuhan. The sequence of events suggests that the coronavirus may have been transmitted by the asymptomatic carrier. The longest incubation period for the patient was 19 days, which is long but within the reported range of 0 to 24 days. The findings in this report of presumed transmission by an asymptomatic carrier indicate that prevention of COVID-19 would be more challenging. 

Nomination Reasons

This article was the first to report the transmission of COVID-19 from an asymptomatic carrier with normal chest CT. It makes the government and people realize that more strict isolation measures are needed to contain the COVID-19. 

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This article has been nominated for Distinguished Research Awards, you can visit the website below and vote for the nominated publications:

https://www.molecularcloud.org/awards-for-distinguished-research.html.