The coronavirus can stay in men's semen even after they have healed, Chinese researchers recently said.
A team of researchers from Shangqiu Municipal Hospital tested 38 male patients treated at the height of pandemic in China, in January and February. "In 16% of them coronavirus was found in sperm," the team reported for the journal JAMA Network Open, which publishes health research.
"We found that SARS-CoV-2 may be present in the sperm of patients with Covid-19, including cases where patients have recovered," Diangeng Li of the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital in Beijing wrote. He explained that such a thing is a result of the fact that the immune system is unable to attack the invader throughout the body.
Such a discovery does not happen for the first time. Many viruses live in the male reproductive system. Viruses that Ebola or Zika have been found in sperm, sometimes a few months after the patient was cured.
Does this mean that the virus can be sexually transmitted? Not necessarily. It is not yet clear whether coronavirus can be sexually transmitted. Finding evidence of it in semen does not mean it is infectious. At this point, the need arises for further studies to see if SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted through sexual contact.
Sources: Live Science, CNN
