Anyone Covid asymptomatic? How does this happen

[Itsonlyme21]

Just wondering if anyone has tested positive and has no symptoms ? I have done a few laterals this week which have shown a barely visible line. I feel absolutely fine. I do wonder what research is being done on this and why some people have symptoms and others don’t. I’ve had 2 jabs and a booster 2 weeks ago. I’m awaiting pcr test results (can’t believe I actually managed to get a slot). Now self isolating on NYE…. Great

Yes me. I think. Positive PCR as tested as a contact but all lateral flows negative and no symptoms. Although there are a few very minor symptoms where I think maybe that could have been it in hindsight. Wondering if the PCR picked up an old infection but then if it did, I'd have had no symptoms then too. Finished my isolation now but it's been very confusing.

Yes DD had no symptoms, double vaccinated and also had Covid a few months ago.

Re research, it's not unique to covid. You may know this already of course, but I investigated asymptotic infections back last year, and it happens for others too (I read a paper about it in relation to flu for example). So maybe they do know why more broadly than just in relation to covid as it's not a new thing they haven't had time to figure out.

Yes, both DH and DS were asymptomatic

Isnt it just when the virus enters your system, so it detectable by PCR, but your immune system at the time was able to fight it off very efficiently - either cos you've just had a vaccine so millions of circulating antibodies ready to grab and squish the virus particles or because you naturally have a very high functioning, robust immune system with lots of the right type of immunity molecules to quickly squish viral particles. So the virus never really gets the chance to take hold and develop into an active infection in your system (when it could be detected on lateral flows). Active infection detectable on lat flow = lots of viral replication going on so that the 100 viral particles that you inhaled when that bloke sneezed on you on the train, or whatever it is, prob 100s of 1000s, replicate in your cells over the next few days and then burst out to form and infection with hundreds of thousands or millions of viral particles then in your system which is enough to be causing a load and an effect on your body and for your body to be going crazy with a full scale immune responses, giving you all the symptoms like sneezing, coughing, temperature etc.

Your immune system, with whatever antibodies and other molecules it has got circulating at the time (naturallly, you're particularly healthy, been eatin well, recently had a vaccine or whatever), tries to squish any invaders before the tipping point is pushed over into a raging, out of control infection where the virus "wins" for a bit and it has to go on defensive mode. Presumably "attack mode" sometimes wins early on if you're lucky and the virus gets effectively destroyed into fragments in your system (so still detectable in PCR tests that are simply looking for viral RNA, broken up and destroyed or not) before it has a chance to develop into an active infection i.e replicate in your cells, when it will then be at sufficiently high levels to be detectable on a later flow test (antigen test, looking for high levels of viral proteins, not just the RNA)

I think viral load is also important, so if you only get a small dose of the viruses, whatever viruses, from standing next to someone on the tube, that's more likely to be able to be dealt with in attack.mode before the viruses can "win" than of you're working all day in a covid ward or on a bus, getting exposed to orders of magnitude more viral particles.

I don't think it's a particularly unique thing to covid. It's just more talked about due to the level of testing we are doing.

Otherwise you have no idea if you have a virus if you don't have symptoms. As another poster has said flu is another example. But we don't test to see if you have flu so if you did have the flu virus but asymptotically then you just would be none the wiser.

It's really no different to why some people get very mild symptoms, and others get really poorly.

Yes exactly. I think you probably get exposed to the coronaviruses and others that cause colds on a daily basis in the winter if you commute for example, but you probably only get 2 or 3 colds a winter (more, or less, depending on how healthy you are, whether you sat next to the person for hours etc). Sometimes.the virus wins and younger an active infection i.e a cold, sometimes your immune system.wins early on and effectively dispatches it before you notice anything.

More agrresive viruses that do worse things to your body than the cold viruses are obviously more dangerous and more likely to make you noticeably ill. The Ebola virus for example is much more likely to kill you than covid 19 virus. The covid 19 virus is more likely to kill you or put you in hospital than the common cold viruses etc.