A new research study of 34 coronavirus patients has confirmed the findings of earlier studies that COVID-19 is not found in male seminal fluid, and therefore cannot be transmitted through sexual intercourse—at least not by men, according to a report on the study published by Yahoo! Life.
The study, published by the journal Fertility and Sterility, analyzed semen samples from 32 men in China who had the virus. But the samples showed no evidence of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, in the semen.
The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Utah and Columbia University, as well in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic is believed to have originated. But the results follow those of a study released last week, conducted solely by researchers in China, which also found no evidence of the virus in 12 samples taken from COVID-19 patients.
According to University of Utah researcher Dr. James M. Hotaling, a lead author of the new study, the chance that semen could carry coronavirus cannot be completely ruled out based on the 39 samples, but that the chances of COVID being subject to sexual transmission is “remote.”
“The virus requires two receptors to get into cells,” Hotaling told Yahoo! Life. “Basically, in testes cells, none of them showed both these receptors. We’ve shown preliminary evidence that it doesn’t appear in the semen.”
But the study did not show that the virus cannot infect the testicles, and if it were to reach those male reproductive organs, “it can cause long-term damage to semen and sperm production,” according to Jingtao Guo, another University of Utah researcher on the study.
Hotaling also cautions that simply because coronavirus is likely not sexually transmitted, that’s not a green light to have sex without exercising extreme caution. The virus is known to be transmitted through saliva, which is exchanged during kissing or even less intimate interactions.
Coronaviruses generally do not travel through the body via the bloodstream, according to University of Reading virologist Ian Jones. That means the virus would have little chance of reaching the testicles.
“Further studies are needed to make a definitive conclusion,” Hotaling said, adding however that he would be “very surprised” if the results of his study did not hold up.
Photo By Fernando Zhiminaicela / Pixabay
