Prevalence of asymptomatic COVID-19 infection using a seroepidemiological survey

Abstract

The prevalence of asymptomatic infection by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) as a critical measure for effectiveness of mitigation strategy has been reported to be widely varied. In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of asymptomatic infection using serosurvey on general population. In a cross-sectional seroprevalence survey in Guilan province, Iran, the specific antibody against COVID-19 in a representative sample was detected using rapid test kits. Among 117 seropositive subjects, prevalence of asymptomatic infection was determined based on the history of symptoms during the preceding 3 months. The design-adjusted prevalence of asymptomatic infection was 57.2% (95% confidence interval (CI) 44–69). The prevalence was significantly lower in subjects with previous contacts to COVID-19 patients (12%, 95% CI 2–49) than others without (69%, 95% CI, 46–86). The lowest prevalence was for painful body symptom (74.4%). This study revealed that more than half of the infected COVID-19 patients had no symptoms. The implications of our findings include the importance of adopting public health measures such as social distancing and inefficiency of contact tracing to interrupt epidemic transmission.