The Novel Coronavirus Affects Your Testicles. This Is What You Must Know
Several studies have shown that the novel coronavirus can affect your testicles. Dr. Elmer Huerta explains what the effects of Covid-19 in the male reproductive system are.
How does the novel coronavirus affect the testicles?
Just like we’ve previously mentioned, one of the first studies designed to examine the effect of the SARS-Cov-2 in the testicles was published on May 7th, in the American Medical Association’s Magazine.
This article explains that Chinese scientists studied a group of 38 patients, out of which 23 had clinically recovered and 15 were during a stage of acute infection to see if their semen contained viral particles of SARS-CoV-2.
They found that 6 out of 38 patients preserved the virus in their semen: 4 out of 15 that were during an acute stage of the disease and 2 out of the 23 that were recovering.
Later on, on May 31st, another group of researches published in the European Urology Focus, autopsy results of 12 Chinese men who had died from Covid-19. They saw damage in diverse structures in the testicles, but only found the virus in one of 12 cases. Electron microscopes studies did not detect the virus.
Anomalies in Spermatogenesis
In October 3rd, a number of investigators in the University of Miami published a study in The World Journal of Men’s Health in which they presented the results of a study of testicles of six men that died from Covid-19 and compared them with 3 men that died from different causes.
The study found that two out of four samples from testicles of men who died from Covid-19 and were examined with an electron microscope, showed particles of the virus.
Also, three out of the six men who died from Covid-19 showed signs of normal spermatogenesis, meanwhile the other three presented several anomalies. Spermatogenesis is the process in which sperm cells are developed in your testicles.
Researches concluded that their work opens the doors to further research to see the effect of SARS-Cov-2, the way it propagates and the male reproductive system.
The Novel Coronavirus Can Affect The Testicles
To sum up, whereas it is true that it’s been documented that the novel coronavirus is found in the testicular tissue, and is also capable of attacking the testicles directly and that it affects the process of sperm cell formation in some men, there is no consensus as to whether Covid-19 is also a sexually transmitted disease nor that it causes infertility.
Something there isn’t much doubt about is that in 10 months since the virus was discovered and despite the large quantity of information that we’re learning about Covid-19, and the virus that causes it, there is also plenty we currently do not know about the disease and the virus.
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