Talk:Asymptomatic

message: I was once told that if a patient cannot communicate to the health provider what they feel, then they are asymptomatic.  For instance if a patient is in a coma, then they are asymptomatic.   This concept fits with the definition provided here, however is not mentioned in the article...  --159.178.250.76 (talk) 13:24, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: asymptomatic and patient communication of what they feel

message: does this merit being an article, or just an entry in the wiktionary? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fcendejas (talk • contribs) at 08:12, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I think there is enough to write about. What makes a disease slumbering? Are there different types of asymptomatic diseases? Typical examples? Cheers, Face 11:19, 18 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: wiktionary?

message: This was deleted on the grounds that it was a dictionary definition. People may have differing opinions about what is and is not a dictionary definition. But one is that a dictionary definition is a tautology. This is not the case with asymptomatic in spite of its appearing to imply the negative of symptom. In usage it is short for asymptomatic infection or asymptomatic condition (such as leukemia). 
What is hiddens behind it is in fact a very important piece of knowledge--that agents of illness or infection do not necessary show the symptoms associated with them. With the present 2009 swine flu outbreak this is fundamental--if policy makers assume that only people with the flu carry the virsus they are going to make very decisions to if they appreciate that most people carrying it will not develop flu symptoms. 
It is also important for people told that they have a condition following tests to be aware that this does not mean they necessarily have the symptoms assocated with that condition--they may have it asymptomatically. 
It is therefore important that Wikipedia has an article for it. There is one for subclinical infection which covers some of the issues but this does not cover conditions that are not due to infectious agents. Hence it makes sense to have an article which covers them as well. --LittleHow (talk) 14:08, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Not a dictionary definition 

message: I suggest we move this article to Asymptomatism or Asymptomaticity, which more generally describes the concept. — Gaute chat - email - sign 00:11, 30 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed move 

message: This article would benefit from a section describing the history of the original discovery of asymptomatic carriers -- how the first of Koch's postulates had to be revised, etc.  —Undomelin (talk) 22:37, 23 January 2019 (UTC)
thread_title:  History section 

message: Everything is in the name. Asymptomatic means with no symptoms. Subclinical means that the clinical signs are not sufficient to cause observable symptoms. However, they exist. All subclinical affections are asymptomatic (by definition). However, not all asymptomatic affections are subclinical. The current pandemic is a good illustration of that difference. Many people infected by SARS-CoV-2 (that is also true for many other viruses) do not exhibit any clinical sign (except if you count the viral load as a sign). There is maybe not enough ground to create separate pages. But perhaps mentioning the difference in the text? Nicolas Gambardella (talk) 12:04, 10 March 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  asymptomatic and subclinical are slightly different