COVID-19 VIRUS MAY LINGER IN SEMEN OF INFECTED MEN

Chinese researchers have found that traces of the deadly COVID-19 virus linger in the semen of men who have recovered from infection, spurring talk that the virus is bad for sex.

In a Live Science story written by Rachael Rettner on May 7, 2020, the virus, technically called SARS-CoV-2, was discovered to be a fairly travelling wanderer that has invaded not only the lungs, but the kidneys, hearts, livers and gastrointestinal tracts and even lodging in the semen.

This was confirmed in a small Chinese study carried on May 7 by the journal JAMA Network Open, which covered 38 men in Shangqiu, China, who had tested positive for COVID-19 and were experiencing symptoms of the disease or had recently recovered.

Researchers detected SARS-CoV-2 in the sperm of six participants, or 16% of the total, with four of them experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and two declared to have recovered fully. However, the study did not confirm whether the genetic particles were viable or had the ability to transmit the infection.

Interestingly, another study published April 17 in the journal Fertility and Sterility that involved 34 men in Wuhan, China, failed to detect the virus among patients a month after being found positive for COVID-19. This suggests the genetic particles from COVID-19 do not last long from those who had been cured, and thus the possibility of transmitting the virus through sex is with those who have been cured is very low. #coronavirusimpact #COVID19