A Chinese study has worked on asymptomatic coronavirus carriers: these patients infected with Covid-19 who show no visible symptoms. A first profile would seem to emerge.
While the coronavirus has killed nearly 30,000 people in France and more than 400,000 victims worldwide, patients have also been infected without showing any clinical manifestation or symptoms characteristic of Covid-19. They are called asymptomatic carriers.
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Is it possible to define a typical profile? This was what a team from the infectious disease department at Zhongnan Hospital in China wanted to know. The researchers performed extensive clinical examinations and studied 78 patients exposed to the virus, 33 of whom were asymptomatic, or 42.3% of the participants.
A healthy woman
The patients who did not develop the disease were younger than the patients with a median age of 37 years compared to 56 years for the patients who presented symptoms. These patients were 66.7% female. At the same time, they had a much higher level of helper T cells (or CD4 +) than symptomatic patients.
If the asymptomatic patient does not develop signs of the coronavirus, chest scans have made it possible to detect traces in the body. The researchers established that the recovery time was 9 days in an asymptomatic patient against 15 days in one patient. Viral excretion (the expulsion of viral particles from the body) is also shorter: 8 days instead of 19. Finally, it seems that the immune system suffers less damage.
A contagious patient?
If the asymptomatic patient does not develop visible signs of the coronavirus, is it contagious? There are still scientific uncertainties. However, asymptomatic infections could be around 30 to 50% of cases, according to Liam Smeeth of the London school of hygiene and tropical medicine.
So how long does the contagious risk exist? The WHO (World Health Organization) estimates that with or without symptoms, the incubation period, that is to say the time that elapses between the time of the contagion and the onset of symptoms, is three to five days but may be up to fourteen days. And that one person infected with Covid-19 can transmit the pathogen to three people on average.
The asymptomatic patient can nevertheless contaminate everything he touches and be an important vector for the spread of the virus in spite of himself: switches, door handles, taps, toilet seat or television remote control. A Chinese study, published in May by US health authorities, looked at two Chinese students who returned to their country in mid-March, without symptoms, and placed in quarantine in a hotel. They tested positive the next day. Eight samples from 36 objects, or 36%, revealed the presence of the virus. Sheets and pillows had a particularly high viral load.
For all these reasons, wearing a mask, physical distancing and respecting barrier gestures are important to respect. Even if the coronavirus seems to be marking time in France.
How to know ?
To find out if you have been infected with coronavirus, you need to have a blood test. Only this test can confirm if we had the Covid-19. It consists in finding in the blood antibodies naturally secreted by our body to defend against the coronavirus. Many laboratories today carry out these serological tests. You must stay 10/15 min in the laboratory and the results are available within 24 hours. The price of serological tests is not framed: they can vary from 19 to 45 euros on average. It can be reimbursed if the patient has a medical prescription.
To find out where the nearest screening center is located, click here.
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