Coronavirus Could be Sexually Transmitted, the new coronavirus can persist in men’s semen even after they have begun to recover, a finding that raises the possibility the virus could be sexually transmitted, reported by Chinese researchers via CNN health.
Earlier it was the case with Ebola and Zika virus, both were both found to spread in semen, sometimes months after a male patient had recovered.
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A team at Shangqiu Municipal Hospital tested 38 male patients treated there at the height of the pandemic in China. About 16% of them had evidence of the coronavirus in their semen.
“We found that SARS-CoV-2 can be present in the semen of patients with COVID-19, and SARS-CoV-2 may still be detected in the semen of recovering patients,” Diangeng Li of Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital in Beijing and colleagues wrote.
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Abstinence or condom use might be considered as preventive means for these patients. Just to avoid contact with the COVID patient’s saliva and blood may not be enough, since the survival of SARS-CoV-2 in a recovering patient’s semen maintains the likelihood to infect others.