New biomarkers or technologies to detect the infection of

SARS-CoV-2 (causing COVID 19), in infected persons before

they become carriers – (A COVID-19 Challenge)
Abstract
Biomarkers or technologies for detection of SARS-CoV-2 (causing COVID 19), in an infected person yet to
become a carrier.

Introduction and Background

A large percentage of people infected with SARS-COV-2 are asymptomatic. These asymptomatic people
though are infected and carry the active virus in their body but never develop any symptoms (Wang et al.
2020). However they keep shedding virus which in turn infects other people.
Current quickest technology is detection by Quantitative Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction
(qRT-PCR), at the same time, positive results mean by this time the infected person has already become
carrier. Therefore, the infected person has already started shedding the virus leading to transmission of
COVID 19.
It is reported that the viral load detected in asymptomatic patients is similar to that found in symptomatic
patients, suggesting the transmission potential of asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic patients (Zou et
al. 2020).
However, if we can detect a person immediately after infection that is when the virus has just attached to host
cells and has yet to multiply, then we can isolate the infected individual much before he can infect others. This
would break the infection cycle and would lead to a quicker eradication of COVID 19.
This early detection of SARS-CoV-2 infection, before an infected person becomes carrier, can be achieved by
a. looking for early and specific biomarker for SARS-CoV-2 infection, or
b. other novel technologies which could detect SARS-CoV-2 infection

Description of the solution (in this case, A COVID-19 Challenge)

New Biomarkers or Technologies to detect the infection of SARS-CoV-2 (causing COVID 19), in infected
persons before they become carriers.

References
Zou, L., Ruan, F., Huang, M., Liang, L., Huang, H., Hong, Z., Yu, J., Kang, M., Song, Y., Xia, J. and Guo, Q., 2020.
SARS-CoV-2 viral load in upper respiratory specimens of infected patients. New England Journal of
Medicine, 382(12), pp.1177-1179.
Wang, W., Xu, Y., Gao, R., Lu, R., Han, K., Wu, G. and Tan, W., 2020. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in different types
of clinical specimens. Jama.