Chinese team finds new crown virus in semen, now Coronavirus may threaten men more
Under the new crown epidemic, men are not good. On May 7th, Chinese researchers released results that new coronavirus was detected in semen samples of male cases in China and after recovery.
This further confirms the conclusions of Chinese researchers on the threat of the new crown to the reproductive system-a month ago, the US team also issued a document that the male reproductive system will not be threatened by the new crown.
Experimental process: Viruses are detected in all cases
The study was jointly completed by Zhao Weiguo, director of the Department of Respiratory Medicine, the Eighth Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital, and Zhang Shixi, deputy director of the Department of Infection, Shangqiu City Hospital, Henan Province. On May 7, a sub-journal of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published its results online.
Allegedly, the research team recruited 50 male patients with new coronary pneumonia from January 26 to February 16, 2020. Twelve people were unable to provide semen samples due to erectile dysfunction, coma, or death before enrollment.
In the end, a total of 38 male patients aged 15-50 years old provided semen samples for nucleic acid detection of new coronavirus.
Among them, 23 people (60.5%) are in clinical recovery period.
15 people (39.5%) are in acute infection period.
The results showed that 6 subjects had positive semen nucleic acid tests
Among them, 2 were in the recovery period and 4 were in the acute infection period. In addition, the semen nucleic acid test results were not related to age, history of genitourinary diseases, date of onset, and length of hospital stay. There is no obvious correlation with the clinical recovery days.
In this experiment, t test, χ2 test, Mann-Whitney or Kruskal-Wallis test were used for comparison between groups. All data were statistically analyzed using SPSS statistical software version 19 (IBM). P value is 2-tailed, and P <0.05 indicates significant difference.
In addition, the participants in the study specifically pointed out that this study has shortcomings such as small sample size and short follow-up time. Therefore, detailed information about the shedding of new coronavirus, survival time, concentration in semen, etc. needs further study.
Will OOXX be infected?
From the beginning of the outbreak, public health experts have been saying that although the new coronavirus can be spread by kissing, they do not think it can be spread by sex. Now this new discovery does not contradict this.
Although the researchers detected the genetic material of the new coronavirus in the semen, it did not prove that the virus particles were "live" or able to spread the infection.
How long New Coronavirus stays in the semen, now known
Medical experts said that there are still many questions left
to be further investigated, such as how much viral load is in the sperm, and
whether the virus can be spread through sexual activity.
In addition, it is not clear how long the new coronavirus stays in the semen, because the patients participating in the study still have symptoms, or only recently recovered.
Liona Poon, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told the media that the study did not indicate how much viral load was in the semen, whether it was residual debris or intact virus particles. Before the virus is isolated and cultivated, it is impossible to know whether it is infectious.
Eggs hurt and not work. New coronavirus may be more dangerous for men
On February 17, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published the research results.
As of February 11, 2020, the male to female ratio was 1.2: 1, and the male mortality rate was 64.7% higher than that of females.
On April 17, MedRxiv, a preprint platform, released a joint study between the United States and India. It was found that after male infection, it is more difficult to remove the new coronavirus.
Part of the reason is that the parts of the human body with the highest expression of ACE2 receptors are the testes, lungs and kidneys.
In ovarian tissue, ACE2 was not detected.
From this, the researchers reasoned that the testicles may become a virus reservoir, leading to more severe disease in men.
Previously, scientists conducted research on SARS, the "relative" of the new coronavirus, and found that coronavirus may cross the blood testis / epididymal barrier, affecting sperm production and androgen synthesis; or provoke a local immune response, causing orchitis, etc., which damages the male reproductive system. In severe cases, it can cause infertility.
The Zika virus can directly destroy the structure of the male reproductive system and make the testicular lesions shrink.
But some scholars provided the opposite research results.
The authoritative journal Reproductive Medicine "Fertility and Infertility" published the results of American scholars' research at the end of April.
After investigating 34 male patients with new-age coronary pneumonia with an average age of 37 years (18-55 years), they found that no new coronavirus was detected in semen about one month after infection. "This is a preliminary confirmation that the new coronavirus is unlikely to be transmitted through semen or sexual contact.".
Since then, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University and Jinling Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University School of Medicine have worked together to achieve similar results.
However, both of the above studies acknowledge the limitations, including relatively small sample size and selection bias.
Nanjing researchers also said that multiple rounds of new coronavirus nucleic acid testing of semen samples is a more ideal choice. However, it is impractical to collect multiple semen samples during the onset of male cases.
But regardless of infection or recovery, experts suggest that protective measures for sexual behavior during the epidemic are necessary.
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