Jahnavi Sarma
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Written By: Jahnavi Sarma | Updated : August 26, 2021 12:17 PM IST
COVID-19 is a highly transmissible disease. This is an established fact and the rapid spread of this virus across the globe almost two years back bears testimony to this. Since then, we have seen how the second wave of the pandemic in India caused untold misery to millions. This virus thrives in highly populated regions. But then, sparsely populated countries are also affected by the pandemic. The transmissibility of the virus that causes COVID-19 cannot be undermined at all. This much we all know. But what was not very clear till now was how infected people spread the virus. Or, to be more precise, when exactly and to what extent, are people infected with the virus most likely to spread it to others. But now, a study at Boston University says that people who have the disease are most contagious two days before and three days after symptoms manifest. This study is published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
According to the researchers of this study, if a person got the virus from an infected person, they are also likely to be without symptoms if the first infected person in the outbreak was also asymptomatic. They say that the timing of exposure relative to primary-case symptoms is important for transmission. They further add that this understanding suggests that prompt testing and isolating of a sick person is critical to control the pandemic.
For the purpose of the study, the research team traced and studied COVID-19 transmission among around 9,000 close contacts of primary cases in China's Zhejiang province from January 2020 to August 2020. Among 'close contacts' traced by the researchers were individuals who lived in the same household or had meals together with, colleagues, healthcare workers and people who shared vehicles with infected people. After thorough analysis, researchers saw that from among individuals identified as primary cases, researchers saw some interesting points regarding transmission.
But researchers say that close contacts were more likely to contract the viral disease from the primary infected individual if they were exposed just before or after symptoms manifested. In comparison to mild and moderate symptomatic individuals, asymptomatic primary individuals were much less likely to transmit the virus to close contacts. But in case they did so, , the contacts were also less likely to experience noticeable symptoms.
(With inputs from IANS)
