In men infected with SARS-CoV-2, symptoms such as testicular pain and decreased testosterone may be seen.
- Research carried out in hamsters shows that in the event of infection with Covid-19, the virus is found in the testicles.
- In men who test positive for Covid-19, this presence of the virus at the testicular level can cause pain, a drop in testosterone and disrupt testicular cells, with the presence of immune cells.
As the Covid-19 pandemic progresses, researchers are discovering that SARS-CoV-2 doesn’t just affect the lungs. Studies have thus shown that the coronavirus has cardiovascular and renal implications, could still cause an infection in the eye or muscle and joint pain.
In new work published in the journal Microorganisms, researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) observed that SARS-CoV-2 was even able to infect the testicles. This could have consequences for men’s reproductive health.
A presence of the virus in the testicles
If the researchers carried out this work, it is because several patients reported, after having tested positive for Covid-19, feeling pain in the testicles. Further examinations also revealed a decrease in testosterone, the male hormone produced in the testicles. Finally, biopsies have also shown a significant disturbance of the testicles at the cellular level, in particular the presence of immune cells.
“Given the scale of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is essential to study the impact of this disease on the testicles and its potential consequences on the severity of the disease, reproductive health and sexual transmission”underlines Dr. Rafael Kroon Campos, lead author of the study.
An experiment conducted on hamsters
One of the UTMB laboratories has been studying Zika virus infection in the testicles for years. The researchers therefore investigated whether SARS-CoV-2 could cause a similar disease. To find out, they used hamsters, which they inoculated with the virus. During the first week of infection, the coronavirus was detected in the testicles, then its presence gradually decreased. The authors believe this may represent what might occur in men with mild to moderate Covid-19.
“These results are a first step in understanding the impact of Covid-19 on the male reproductive system and potentially on male reproductive health, explains Shannan Rossi, associate professor in the departments of pathology and microbiology and immunology. We still have a lot to do before we get the big picture. Going forward, we will look for ways to mitigate this impact, including using antivirals, antibody therapies and vaccines.”
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