Asymptomatic carrier

Typhoid Mary in a 1909 newspaper illustration. Mary Mallon was an asymptomatic carrier of Salmonella typhi who is thought to have infected 53 others with typhoid fever while continuing her work as a cook.

An asymptomatic carrier is a person or other organism that has become infected with a pathogen, but shows no signs or symptoms.[1]

Although unaffected by the pathogen, carriers can transmit it to others or develop symptoms in later stages of the disease. Asymptomatic carriers play a critical role in the transmission of common infectious diseases such as typhoid, HIV, C. difficile, influenzas, cholera, tuberculosis, and COVID-19,[2] although the latter is often associated with "robust T-cell immunity" in more than a quarter of patients studied.[3] While the mechanism of disease-carrying is still unknown, researchers have made progress towards understanding how certain pathogens can remain dormant in a human for a period of time.[4] A better understanding of asymptomatic disease carriers is crucial to the fields of medicine and public health as they work towards mitigating the spread of common infectious diseases.

  1. ^ "Dictionary Definition". Medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  2. ^ Lai, Chih-Cheng; Liu, Yen Hung; Wang, Cheng-Yi; Wang, Ya-Hui; Hsueh, Shun-Chung; Yen, Muh-Yen; Ko, Wen-Chien; Hsueh, Po-Ren (2020-03-04). "Asymptomatic carrier state, acute respiratory disease, and pneumonia due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2): Facts and myths". Journal of Microbiology, Immunology and Infection. 53 (3): 404–412. doi:10.1016/j.jmii.2020.02.012. ISSN 1684-1182. PMC 7128959. PMID 32173241.
  3. ^ Sekine, Takuya; Perez-Potti, André; Rivera-Ballesteros, Olga; Strålin, Kristoffer; Gorin, Jean-Baptiste; Olsson, Annika; Llewellyn-Lacey, Sian; Kamal, Habiba; Bogdanovic, Gordana; Muschiol, Sandra; Wullimann, David J.; Kammann, Tobias; Emgård, Johanna; Parrot, Tiphaine; Folkesson, Elin; Rooyackers, Olav; Eriksson, Lars I.; Henter, Jan-Inge; Sönnerborg, Anders; Allander, Tobias; Albert, Jan; Nielsen, Morten; Klingström, Jonas; Gredmark-Russ, Sara; Björkström, Niklas K.; Sandberg, Johan K.; Price, David A.; Ljunggren, Hans-Gustaf; Aleman, Soo; Buggert, Marcus (2020). "Robust T cell immunity in convalescent individuals with asymptomatic or mild COVID-19". Cell. 183 (1): 158–168.e14. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.08.017. PMC 7427556. PMID 32979941.
  4. ^ "Denise M. Monack". WikiGenes. Retrieved 2016-02-14.