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Wuhan woman with no symptoms infects five relatives with COVID-19: Study

adminFebruary 22, 20201 Mins read94 Views

WUHAN: A 20-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, travelled 675km north to Anyang where she infected five relatives, without ever showing signs of infection, Chinese scientists reported on Friday (Feb 21), offering new evidence that the virus can be spread asymptomatically.

The case study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, offered clues about how the coronavirus is spreading, and suggested why it may be difficult to stop.

READ: World must act fast to contain coronavirus, says WHO's Tedros

"Scientists have been asking if you can have this infection and not be ill? The answer is apparently, yes," said Dr William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who was not involved in the study.

China has reported more than 75,000 cases of the virus known as COVID-19 to the World Health Organization (WHO) including at least 2,000 deaths, and the virus has already spread to 26 countries and territories outside of mainland China.

Researchers have reported sporadic accounts of individuals without any symptoms spreading the virus. What's different in this study is that it offers a natural lab experiment of sorts, Schaffner said.

"You had this patient from Wuhan where the virus is, traveling to where the virus wasn't. She remained asymptomatic and infected a bunch of family members and you had a group of physicians who immediately seized on the moment and tested everyone."

Explore our interactive: All the COVID-19 cases in Singapore and the clusters and links between them

According to the report by Dr Meiyun Wang of the People's Hospital of Zhengzhou University and colleagues, the woman travelled from Wuhan to Anyang on Jan 10 and visited several relatives.

When they started getting sick, doctors isolated the woman and tested her for coronavirus. Initially, the young woman tested negative for the virus, but a follow-up test was positive.

All five of her relatives developed COVID-19 pneumonia, but as of Feb 11, theRead More – Source

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