Quote:
Originally Posted by Fore
I agree that until one develos symptoms one doesn’t know if they were asymptomatic or presymptomatic. But one doesn’t transition from asymptomatic to presymptomatic to symptomatic. If one does develop symptoms, then one knows that before the symptoms they were presymptomatic.
Not a virologist, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
My understanding is that asymptomatic typically refers to individuals whose viral load is too small to induce any symptoms. These individuals do not appear to be a high risk of spread
Since symptoms develop as a response to viral load, and there is a lag in that response, presymptomatic applies to those individuals whose viral load is high and increasing, and therefore a risk of spreading the disease, but not yet exhibiting the immunological response that we associate with symptoms.
So, because (again in my non-clinical opinion) it is possible to transition with low viral load, no symptoms to high viral load, no symptoms, I think it is fair to say that you can transition from asympttomatic to presymptomoatic.
The distinction does not appear to be a useful one to make, though, with current testing being binary.