{"title":"On modes of disease transmission and the hidden shape of pandemics: A review of <i>Asymptomatic</i> by Joshua Weitz.","authors":"C Brandon Ogbunugafor","doi":"10.1093/ve/veae109","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The importance of asymptomatic transmission was a key discovery in our efforts to study and intervene in the COVID-19 pandemic. In <i>Asymptomatic</i> (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024), Joshua Weitz uses this aspect of SARS-CoV-2 natural history to discuss many counterintuitive characteristics of the pandemic. In this essay, I engage the arguments in the book, and discuss why asymptomatic transmission is such a critical dimension of the study of infectious diseases. I explore ideas contained within <i>Asymptomatic</i> and connect them to related issues in evolutionary virology and disease ecology, including epistemic uncertainty and the evolution of virulence. Furthermore, I comment on the broader messages in the text, including the gap between scientific knowledge and social understanding.</p>","PeriodicalId":56026,"journal":{"name":"Virus Evolution","volume":"10 1","pages":"veae109"},"PeriodicalIF":5.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11669313/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Virus Evolution","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ve/veae109","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"VIROLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The importance of asymptomatic transmission was a key discovery in our efforts to study and intervene in the COVID-19 pandemic. In Asymptomatic (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024), Joshua Weitz uses this aspect of SARS-CoV-2 natural history to discuss many counterintuitive characteristics of the pandemic. In this essay, I engage the arguments in the book, and discuss why asymptomatic transmission is such a critical dimension of the study of infectious diseases. I explore ideas contained within Asymptomatic and connect them to related issues in evolutionary virology and disease ecology, including epistemic uncertainty and the evolution of virulence. Furthermore, I comment on the broader messages in the text, including the gap between scientific knowledge and social understanding.
期刊介绍：
Virus Evolution is a new Open Access journal focusing on the long-term evolution of viruses, viruses as a model system for studying evolutionary processes, viral molecular epidemiology and environmental virology.
The aim of the journal is to provide a forum for original research papers, reviews, commentaries and a venue for in-depth discussion on the topics relevant to virus evolution.
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