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Concept
Asymptomatic carrier
Summary
An asymptomatic carrier is a person or other organism that has become infected with a pathogen, but shows no signs or symptoms.
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, although the last is often associated with "robust T-cell immunity" in more than a quarter of patients studied. 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. 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.
Asymptomatic carriers can be categorized by their current disease state. When an individual transmits pathogens immediately following infection but prior to developing symptoms, they are known as an incubatory carrier. Humans are also capable of spreading disease following a period of illness. Typically thinking themselves cured of the disease, these individuals are known as convalescent carriers. Viral diseases such as hepatitis and poliomyelitis are frequently transmitted in this manner. "Healthy carriers" never exhibit signs or symptoms of the disease, yet are capable of infecting others, and are often considered to be the "classic" asymptomatic carriers.
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.
The limited information on the prevalence of asymptomatic carriers creates a considerable difficulty when planning public health initiatives. Given that disease surveillance is dependent on estimates for both the asymptomatic rates and symptomatic rates of disease, the lack of information on the prevalence of carriers can lead to insufficient initiatives for the mitigation of common public health concerns such as C.
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