An international group of scientists in the US and China found no evidence of COVID-19 in the semen of 34 adult Chinese men who had, on average, tested positive for the deadly virus a month prior, according to the findings published in the journal Fertility and Sterility.
Researchers at the University of Utah and Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, wanted to know whether the novel coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, can be sexually transmitted like the Ebola and Zika viruses.
They analyzed semen samples from 34 Chinese men that were collected approximately one month after they were diagnosed with mild or moderate forms of COVID-19.
This was a rather small study, but despite the limited findings, it does seem highly unlikely to pass on the virus solely through intercourse.
“The fact that in this small, preliminary study that it appears the virus that causes COVID-19 doesn’t show up in the testes or semen could be an important finding,” says James M. Hotaling, co-author of the study and associate professor of urology specializing in male fertility at the University of Utah. “If a disease like COVID-19 were sexually transmittable that would have major implications for disease prevention and could have serious consequences for a man’s long-term reproductive health.”
Next, the researchers wanted to know whether the virus could infect the testes as well.
“If the virus is in the testes but not the sperm it can’t be sexually transmitted,” says Jingtao Guo, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scientist at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah who also co-authored the study. “But if it is in the testes, it can cause long-term damage to semen and sperm production.”
Urologist Dr James Hotaling, co-author of the study, at University of Utah Health, was relieved their findings suggested it did not.
He said: ‘If a disease like COVID-19 were sexually transmittable that would have major implications for disease prevention.’
And Dr Hotaling also warned that it may have had ‘serious consequences for a man’s long-term reproductive health’.
However, the doctors did note that their sample size was small and only included men with mild to moderate cases, suggesting it may be possible for the disease to infect semen in more critical cases. “It could be that a man who is critically ill with COVID-19 might have a higher viral load, which could lead to a greater likelihood of infecting the semen. We just don’t have the answer to that right now,” said study co-author Dr. James M. Hotaling in a press release. “But knowing that we didn’t find that kind of activity among the patients in this study who were recovering from mild to moderate forms of the disease is reassuring,” he added.
Questions also remain about patients who have been severely ill with the virus, who were not included in the study.
Meanwhile, another study published earlier this month in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases found that the virus doesn’t appear to infect vaginal fluid either, suggesting the coronavirus isn’t transmittable through sex with a person of any gender.
