Presymptomatic, asymptomatic and post-symptomatic transmission of SARS-CoV-2: joint British Infection Association (BIA), Healthcare Infection Society (HIS), Infection Prevention Society (IPS) and Royal College of pathologists (RCPath) guidance

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Mugglestone, Moira A, Ratnaraja, Natasha V, Bak, Aggie, Islam, Jasmin, Wilson, Jennie ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4713-9662, Bostock, Jennifer, Moses, Samuel E, Price, James R, Weinbren, Michael, Loveday, Heather ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2259-8149, Rivett, Lucy, Stoneham, Simon M and Wilson, A Peter R (2022) Presymptomatic, asymptomatic and post-symptomatic transmission of SARS-CoV-2: joint British Infection Association (BIA), Healthcare Infection Society (HIS), Infection Prevention Society (IPS) and Royal College of pathologists (RCPath) guidance. BMC Infectious Diseases, 22 (1).

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-022-07440-0

Abstract

Covid-19 is a worldwide problem, and we are learning not just how to treat and vaccinate (immunise) people, but also how and when the infection is spread from person to person. Unlike some infections, you cannot necessarily see who is likely to infect another person; this is because sometimes the infection is transmitted before (pre) someone develops symptoms. It is also the case that some people have the infection and can transmit it but never develop symptoms themselves; this we call asymptomatic transmission.
This guidance document is one of a pair which have reviewed the scientific evidence on how Covid-19 is spread. This part of the guide provides recommendations on how to help stop the spread of infection before someone becomes obviously ill (presymptomatic) and for those who never become ill themselves (asymptomatic). We did not find evidence for post symptomatic transmission (someone transmitting Covid-19 after they have recovered).
The recommendations based on the evidence we have reviewed give confidence that the things we are all doing such as social distancing, hand washing, wearing face coverings and keeping rooms well ventilated by opening windows are the things that we should be doing to prevent people getting infected with Covid-19. We hope that this guide will help everyone try and prevent spreading Covid-19.

Item Type:	Article
Identifier:	10.1186/s12879-022-07440-0
Keywords:	SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, infection, transmission, pre-symptomatic, asymptomoatic, post-symptomatic, guideline
Subjects:	Medicine and health > Microbiology
Related URLs:	Publisher Publisher
Depositing User:	Heather Loveday
Date Deposited:	09 May 2022 10:54
Last Modified:	04 Nov 2024 11:38
URI:	https://repository.uwl.ac.uk/id/eprint/9043

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