A recent report suggests that asymptomatic COVID-19 patients are less likely to transmit the disease. Does it mean that these patients' immune systems neutralize the virus? Do these patients have a lower load of the virus in their droplets? What do you think?
Overall, its good news. It means that if you keep tracking the symptomatic patients and their contacts we can make a significant leap in slowing down the pandemic.
In my opinion, I don't think that asymtomatic COVID-19 patients are less likely to transmit the disease to other persons, I surely believe that asymtomatic patients are infected by less severe and virulent virus strains, which have less abilities in rapidly spreading.
The novel coronavirus, a respiratory pathogen, spreads through droplets, which can be released when someone coughs or sneezes.It passes from an individual through infectious droplets.
Data from published epidemiology and virologic studies provide evidence that COVID-19 is primarily transmitted from symptomatic people to others who are in close contact through respiratory droplets, by direct contact with infected
persons, or by contact with contaminated objects and surfaces.
So if a patient is asymptomatic then they can not spread infectious droplet by coughs or sneezes, it also leads to less contamination of objects and surfaces nearby patients.
According to WHO, asymptomatic patients are also for spreading of disease. This is true that asymptomatic patients are more immune.
But in science patient is a patient and spreading should me same.
For causing a disease certain Mount of microbial population requires which is known as Inoculum potential.
So if one or two cases than I don't believe that asymptomatic carrier are less spreader of disease (they should high in number).
I do not think WHO is a reliable source of information for now. If a patient has fever, cough, dyspea and diarrhea there are a lot of fluids and aerosols that contaminated, this compare with an asymptomatic patient represents a huge difference in terms of virus spreading.
In my own opinion and from personal field experience, it stands to reason why asymptomatic individuals may be less likely to transmit SARS-CoV-2 to their contacts.
The disease is spread primarily via respiratory droplets with a much larger dose disseminated by coughing or sneezing which are absent in asymptomatic people. Also there is a minimum infective dose required to establish an infection among contacts which may not be produced by an asymptomatic person. Also recall that the virus dies within hours on surfaces and as such most contacts of an symptomatic case may be exposed to even less viral particles over time.
In spite of all these, we shouldn't lay down our guards as there is still a possibility no matter how minute of asymptomatic transmission.
At this time I am not involved to study covid-19 (virus). however, in my opinion the direct transmission from the large enough droplets are more susceptible than smaller droplets that remains exposed in sunlight for short time before inhalation. perhaps direct exposure to sunlight may weaken.