Is it possible to get sick with coronavirus and not notice

According to scientists, one of the reasons for the rapid spread of coronavirus around the world was the fact that some people have the disease without symptoms – they simply do not know that they are infected and infect others.¹.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, the asymptomatic course of coronavirus infection accounts for up to 31% of cases! It is likely that this is due to the characteristics of immunity and the general state of human health.

However, doctors do not recommend fully relying on such a “corona” option and strongly advise taking care of your safety – getting vaccinated and following safety rules in the form of wearing masks, using antiseptics and maintaining social distance².

Asymptomatic COVID-19

For the first time, the world learned about a new coronavirus infection, which was called COVID-19, in December 2019. Since then, scientists and doctors have been continuously studying the properties of this virus and its strains resulting from mutations, and identifying more and more new symptoms of the disease. In the first year of the pandemic, more than 60 million people were infected with the coronavirus. The emergence of new strains provokes the second, third waves of infection. And this is greatly facilitated by those people who carry the disease asymptomatically.³.

Blood tests in a large group of people were able to confirm that in some of them COVID-19 is completely asymptomatic. They do not feel unwell, there are no signs of a cold and loss of smell. But at the same time, there is a virus in their body, and they can generously share it with others. As a result, a few weeks after the asymptomatic disease, antibodies to the virus are detected, which confirms the episode of infection. But at the same time, these people claim that they were perfectly healthy all this time.⁴.

We discussed asymptomatic COVID-19 with an expert.

Coronavirus infection without symptoms: what does it mean?

This means that when a healthy person comes into contact with an infected person, the SARS-Cov2 coronavirus can enter the mucous membranes and, if the immune system is not effective enough, enter the body and begin to multiply. In certain cases (the reasons are still not exactly established), the coronavirus in the body of a given person multiplies, causes an immune response, and, in the end, is destroyed by the cells of the immune system – recovery occurs, but, unlike the usual clinical picture, in such patients do not experience any symptoms of the disease. Often such people do not even know that they have suffered covid-19. As a rule, they learn about the disease after taking a blood test for antibodies to SARS-Cov2 IgG.

How to identify patients with asymptomatic infection?

As a rule, it is practically impossible to do this clinically, they do not differ in any way from healthy people and are detected only when examining the presence or absence of signs of immune memory to covid-19 (blood test for immunoglobulins G).

Some of them may feel minimal symptoms of the disease (fatigue, weakness, lethargy, slight malaise, or headache), but do not associate them with possible Covid-19, but explain them with overwork, blood pressure drops or weather changes.

What is the difference between mild covid and asymptomatic?

With a mild course of the disease, the patient has symptoms of the disease characteristic of Covid-19 in various combinations (weakness, malaise, headache, muscle aches, nasal congestion, sore throat, decrease or loss of smell or taste changes, cough, fever, symptoms gastrointestinal irritation). But these symptoms are not very pronounced, and the disease is not severe and without complications for the patient, and, as a rule, is accompanied by a quick recovery. The important point is that the patient understands that he is sick and feels sick. And with an asymptomatic course, as a rule, a person does not even understand that he is sick, and approximately the same processes take place in his body as in a mildly ill person. And he, when talking or sneezing, can also be a distributor of the virus, but he does not feel this in any way, or almost in any way.

What is the danger of an asymptomatic infection? Are there possible consequences?

First, the danger is that a person does not know about his illness and can infect others. Although it is believed that people who carry the disease asymptomatically receive a relatively small viral load. Therefore, they cannot isolate and spread a large amount of the virus compared to people who carry Covid-19 more severely (the severity of the disease and the amount of virus shed during illness depends on the viral load received from the infected person).

Secondly, people who had the disease asymptomatically also interacted with the coronavirus, and their bodies can also undergo changes, like those who were more severely ill (albeit less pronounced). So people who have had the disease asymptomatically may also later have unreasonable prolonged weakness, sweating, nutritional deficiencies, changes in the blood coagulation system, etc.

Is rehabilitation necessary for asymptomatic COVID-19?

The approach is individual. So, if a person suffered Covid-19 asymptomatically, did not feel any symptoms, and nothing bothers him, there is no need for rehabilitation. If symptoms disturbing the patient appear, an examination is carried out. If deviations are detected in certain systems, rehabilitation measures or a course of therapy are carried out.

Can I get vaccinated if I have been asymptomatic?

Yes, you can get vaccinated. There will be no harm from vaccination if a person has had the disease asymptomatically and already has a certain level of class G antibodies in the blood.

When should people who have been asymptomatic get vaccinated?

According to the recommendations of WHO and the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to vaccinate approximately 6 months after the alleged illness. Often, when a person finds out that he has G antibodies to SARS-Cov2 in his blood, he can recall an episode in his life when he had short-term mild symptoms that he did not even associate with a possible disease (weakness, short-term headache, mild malaise). If a person cannot even guess when the disease could have been asymptomatic, he can be scheduled for vaccination without waiting for the antibody level to drop below the threshold, that is, within a month. As a rule, in people who have had the disease asymptomatically, the level of G antibodies is quite low, due to the low viral load, and vaccination will not adversely affect the immune system and the body as a whole.

Sources of:

1. Asymptomatic and recovered patients are especially dangerous. The main myths about when the coronavirus is no longer contagious. https://stopcoronavirus.rf/news/20201113-1949.html
2. FBSI “St. Petersburg Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology named after A.I. Pasteur” of Rospotrebnadzor published the results of a comprehensive study of COVID-19 on 05.07.2021/18246/3517542 https://www.rospotrebnadzor.ru/about/info/news/news_details.php?ELEMENT_ID=XNUMX&sphrase_id=XNUMX
3. FBSI “St. Petersburg Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology named after A.I. Pasteur” of Rospotrebnadzor published the results of a comprehensive study of COVID-19 on 05.07.2021/18246/3517542 https://www.rospotrebnadzor.ru/about/info/news/news_details.php?ELEMENT_ID=XNUMX&sphrase_id=XNUMX
4. Bagnenko S.F., Rassokhin V.V., Belyakov N.A., Boeva ​​E.V., Yastrebova E.B. Coronavirus infection COVID-19. Treatment and prevention // HIV infection and immunosuppression. – 2020 – V.12, No. 2 – S.31-55 (Scopus) https://doi.org/10.22328/2077-9828-2020-12-2-31-56