In a new study from Northwestern Medicine, researchers found many tissues of the male genital tract can be infected with COVID-19.
They found the prostate, vasculature of testicles, penis and testicles were all infected with the virus.
The surprising discovery was made utilizing a PET scan specially designed to reveal sites of infection spreading over time in a whole-body scan.
Scientists didn’t know what they would find, but they expected to see the virus in the lungs and high up in the nose near the brain because people were experiencing loss of taste and smell.
These results indicate that the testicular pain, erectile dysfunction, hypogonadism, reduced sperm count and quality, and decreased fertility linked to COVID infection are a direct consequence of infection of cells of the male reproductive tract and not indirect mechanisms such as fever and inflammation.
The evidence that infection with SARS-CoV-2 can negatively impact male sexual health and fertility is increasing every day. But scientists didn’t know the reason and wondered if the cause was fever and inflammation.
The new study shows how the virus can cause pathology in the prostate, penis, testicles and testicular vasculature (blood vessels).
Clinical studies suggest 10% to 20% of SARS-CoV-2-infected men have symptoms related to male genital tract dysfunction.
This suggests tens of millions of men who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2, especially those who had severe COVID-19, should evaluate their sexual health and fertility to determine if additional therapies could prevent or diminish future problems.
If you care about Covid, please read studies that vitamin D3 could help people fight COVID-19 and other infections, and this existing drug can save damaged lungs in COVID-19.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about new antiviral drug combo highly effective against COVID-19, and results showing that CBD from cannabis may inhibit COVID-19 infection.
The study is posted as a preprint on bioRxiv and was conducted by Thomas Hope et al.
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