COVID 2019 Asymptomatic Infections Across the World- Can It Be a Time Bomb for Future Pandemic Recurrence? A Systematic Review of Surveillance Strategies

Systematic Review (COVID Surveillance Systems)

J Community Med Health Care. 2020; 5(1): 1037.

COVID 2019 Asymptomatic Infections Across the World- Can It Be a Time Bomb for Future Pandemic Recurrence? A Systematic Review of Surveillance Strategies

Davey S¹*, Davey A² and Jain R³

¹Department of Community Medicine, Muzaffarnagar Medical College & Hospital, India

²Department of Community Medicine, Subharti Medical College, India

³Department of Community Medicine, Jain Medical Centre, India

*Corresponding author: Sanjeev Davey, Muzaffarnagar Medical College & Hospital, India

Received: May 11, 2020; Accepted: May 22, 2020; Published: May 29, 2020

Abstract

Background: Covid 2019 Infection can be considered a disease typically following Ice berg Phenomenon, where actual large no of submerged cases are inside and can become threat to human beings as immunity development to SARS –CoV-2 cannot be forever. Studies across the World have suggested that out of many important research questions- the problem of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic virus shedding is one of the most gray area in management of COVID 20019 pandemic across the world. Objective: Unrecognized threat of Incubatory carriers as well as asymptomatic cases becoming a re-infection pool to Global Community can be very dangerous for whole world. So a strategy for further Management of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic CORONA +ve cases needs urgent appraisal, if we have to prevent future recurrence of COVID 2019 Pandemic. That why a systematic research is crucial in this regard, as attempted by authors in this article.

Material and Methods: As per PRISMA (2020) guidelines protocol, search of various kinds of studies in any form ;using five key search words: ‘Asymptomatic’, “Pre-symptomatic” “COVID 2019 Infection Surveillance, Pandemic, Recurrence ” was done in all health related websites of Google, PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Global Health, , Biomed Central, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, world library World Cat, from 1st January, 2020 to 25th April 2020 for systematic review, followed by Meta-Analysis.

Results: Out of wide variety of 46 studies available in literature related to this topic, 19 were found to be eligible for issues synthesis, from which 2 crucial themes of Surveillance of Symptomatics and Asymptomatic & Pre-symptomatics emerged. The symptomatics surveillance was good in the form of Isolation and Quarantine across the World; but the real problem was of asymptomatic post discharge surveillance, which was only in nascent stage in many countries across the world including developing countries such as India.

Conclusion: Lack of asymptomatic post discharge surveillance may cause a real havoc in future, if governments chalk out no strategy across the World, leading to possible recurrence of COVID 2019 Pandemic. However authors suggest more future research studies, before we can say it very definitively that it will certainly happen.

Keywords: Asymptomatic; “Presymptomatic” “COVID 2019 Infection Surveillance; Pandemic; Recurrence

Introduction

According to WHO(2020) COVID 2019 outbreak is the sixth public health international emergency [1]. According to WHO( 2020) situation reports; [1,2] the incubation period for COVID-19 is on an average is 5-6 days, but can reach upto 14 days), so 3 types of Covid 2019 transmissions are possible: Symptomatic transmissionwhere a symptomatic COVID-19 case is a case who has developed signs and symptoms compatible with COVID-19 virus infection. Pre-symptomatic transmission: During this period, some infected persons can be contagious. Therefore, transmission from a presymptomatic case can occur before symptom onset. Asymptomatic transmission: where an asymptomatic laboratory-confirmed case is a person infected with COVID-19 who does not develop symptoms. Asymptomatic transmission refers to transmission of the virus from a person, who does not develop symptoms.

The COVID 2019 infection spreads mainly through respiratory droplets expelled by coughing. COVID-2019 is also transmitted via droplets and fomites during close unprotected contact between an infector and infectee. As per WHO Report( 2020)][3] airborne spread till now has not been reported for COVID-19 and it is not a major driver of transmission based on available evidence. But it can occur if aerosol-generating procedures are conducted such as in ICU. The risk of catching COVID-19 from asymptomatics currently is low. Most people across the globe infected with COVID-19 virus have mild disease and recover [3].

One of the most important question in the present times is that of asymptomatic and presymptomatic virus shedding in SARS-CoV-2 transmission, in view of rising such cases in whole world. Studies reveal that Asymptomatic and presymptomatic virus shedding can be a big challenge to this infection control [4,5]. Moreover, patients with mild and unspecific symptoms are also difficult to identify and quarantine. The absence of fever in SARS-CoV-2 infection (12.1%) has been found to be more frequent than in SARS-CoV (1%) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV; 2%) infection as per various studies in Literature [4-10] and Studies [4- 12] show people without symptoms can infect others.

According to WHO also around 60% of people in world with coronavirus showed mild or no symptoms [1-3]. Nearly 60% infected with coronavirus may be unaware they have the disease, according to number of papers studying the outbreak. That’s why scientists are calling for urgent measures – from closing all schools to banning public gatherings – to stop mild and asymptomatic cases fuelling the pandemic [8].

The studies [4-12] on influenza viruses and community-acquired human corona viruses, reveals that the viral loads in asymptomatic carriers are relatively low,so for SARS-CoV-2, the risk may also remain low if we look on the positive side. But the urgent needs is for identifying a cohort of asymptomatic carriers and following their viral loads, clinical presentations and antibody titers. This type of studies can tell us that how many subjects had symptoms in a later phase, whether virus shedding from the subjects is robust, and how often they might transmit SARS-CoV-2 to others [13,14].

If we see the scenario of a developing Country like Govt of India from its ICMR body admits in his information given to Media and Newspapers that around 69% Corona Positive cases belong to asymptomatic category. The new revelation of asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic infection in India has triggered concerns. [z2 [13,14]. Another problem which still remains worrisome is that corona prevalence is doubling every 10 days in developing countries such as India from 20th April 2020, as less no of tests have been performed as compared to average dense population of 455/km in 130 Crore People of India. So Unrecognized threat of Incubatory carriers as well as asymptomatic cases becoming a real reinfection pool to Global Community can be very dangerous for whole world including India.

In addition to active case finding and testing, it is critical to enhance surveillance activities to detect and monitor if there is COVID-19 transmission in the community. WHO has given surveillance recommendations according to four transmission scenario (countries with no cases, sporadic cases, clusters of cases, and community transmission) and recommends that countries consider using existing hospital-based severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) and primary care influenza like illness (ILI) sites, or whichever syndromic respiratory disease systems may already be in place [15]. In light of this, the effectiveness of using fever detection as the surveillance method needs urgent review

Therefore surveillance of asymptomatics after Recovery is important, as the epidemiological and clinical data can increase our knowledge of COVID-19 Pandemic management in future as later on the surveillance objectives can shift from containing the epidemic to mitigating its medical and societal impact. So there is great need for further studies on the surveillance of asymptomatic COVID-19 infections to guide epidemic control effort. That’s why surveillance evaluation studies carry its own Importance. Therefore a strategy for further surveillance of asymptomatic and presymptomatic CORONA +ve cases needs urgent appraisal, if we have to prevent future recurrence of COVID 2019 Pandemic. That why a Systematic Research is crucial in this regard, as attempted by authors in this article.

Material and Methods

As per latest PRISMA (2020) [27 items Checklist & Flow diagram] guidelines [16], search of various kinds of studies in any form ;using five key search words: ‘Asymptomatic’, “Presymptomatic” “COVID 2019 Infection management”, “Pandemic”, “Recurrence ” was done in all health related websites of Google, PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Global Health, , Biomed Central, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, world library World Cat, from 1 January, 2020 to 25th April 2020 for systematic review.

The systematic review strategy

PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) is an evidence-based minimum set of 27 items and Flow diagram guidelines [16] which helps authors to report a wide array of systematic reviews and meta-analyses that assess the benefits and harms of a health care intervention and this was considered in this systematic review. The systematic review was carried out in following way; First check list of all items to be considered were incorporated in article and then PRISMA flow diagram was followed and main issues were extracted from all studies as per key search words & following Inclusion & Exclusion Criteria. Inclusion criteria: All types of Surveillance strategies for COVID 2019 for both Symptomatic and Asymptomatic were considered Exclusion Criteria: Any study not related to Surveillance of COVID 2019 was excluded (Figure 1).

Citation: Davey S, Davey A and Jain R. COVID 2019 Asymptomatic Infections Across the World- Can It Be a Time Bomb for Future Pandemic Recurrence? A Systematic Review of Surveillance Strategies. J Community Med Health Care. 2020; 5(1): 1037.