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Just 2% of SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals carry 90% of the virus circulating in communities
- Source :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, medRxiv, article-version (status) pre, article-version (number) 1
- Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Significance We analyzed data from saliva-based COVID-19 screening deployed on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. Our dataset is unique in that all SARS-CoV-2−positive individuals reported no symptoms at the time of saliva collection, and therefore were infected but asymptomatic or presymptomatic. We found that 1) the distribution of viral loads observed in our asymptomatic college population was indistinguishable from what has been reported in hospitalized populations; 2) regardless of symptomatic status, approximately 50% of individuals who test positive for SARS-CoV-2 seem to be in noninfectious phases of the infection; and 3) just 2% of infected individuals carry 90% of the virions circulating within communities, serving as viral “supercarriers” and likely also superspreaders.<br />We analyze data from the fall 2020 pandemic response efforts at the University of Colorado Boulder, where more than 72,500 saliva samples were tested for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) using qRT-PCR. All samples were collected from individuals who reported no symptoms associated with COVID-19 on the day of collection. From these, 1,405 positive cases were identified. The distribution of viral loads within these asymptomatic individuals was indistinguishable from what has been previously observed in symptomatic individuals. Regardless of symptomatic status, ∼50% of individuals who test positive for SARS-CoV-2 seem to be in noninfectious phases of the disease, based on having low viral loads in a range from which live virus has rarely been isolated. We find that, at any given time, just 2% of individuals carry 90% of the virions circulating within communities, serving as viral “supercarriers” and possibly also superspreaders.
- Subjects :
- medicine.medical_specialty
Saliva
Colorado
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Universities
viruses
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
Disease
Biology
Microbiology
Asymptomatic
Article
Virus
Epidemiology
Pandemic
medicine
Humans
Mass Screening
Asymptomatic Infections
Multidisciplinary
Transmission (medicine)
business.industry
SARS-CoV-2
transmission
Virion
COVID-19
Biological Sciences
Viral Load
Virology
Hospitalization
Carrier State
medicine.symptom
business
Viral load
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10916490
- Volume :
- 118
- Issue :
- 21
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....535b5ff3e1411bcb8e579f0d8325debc