Comparison of Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Asymptomatic vs Symptomatic Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, China
Rongrong Yang, Xien Gui, Yong Xiong
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and has spread globally with sustained human-to-human transmission outside China. 1,2 To control the spread of COVID-19 and isolate patients as early as possible, the Chinese government requested that close contacts of individuals with COVID-19 must be screened for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. During the screening process, we found some patients whose test results were positive for SARS-CoV-2 but who had no symptoms or signs throughout the course of the disease. Considering that little is known about the differences of clinical features and prognosis between patients who were asymptomatic vs those who were symptomatic, 3,4 this case series aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from 26 transmission cluster series in Wuhan, China, from December 24, 2019, to February 24, 2020.