Research about the novel coronavirus that broke out in Wuhan, Hubei Province of China late last year and has since infected more than 3.7 million people worldwide keeps revealing new details about the deadly virus, its behaviour, possible mutation and everything else as the world is struggling to find ways of defeating it.
There is a new revelation about the virus. A small study conducted at Shangqiu Municipal Hospital in Shangqiu, Henan province in China by researchers has found traces of the virus in semen samples collected from 38 men. The study was published in a journal called JAMA.
After a thorough analysis of the 38 samples taken from men between the ages of 20 and 50, samples from six patients tested positive for COVID-19.
According to UK news site The Daily Mail, “A quarter of those who were still infectious had the virus in their semen, and 8.7 per cent of those who had recovered still had its traces in their semen.
The study shows that there could be a possibility that COVID-19 could be transmitted through sex, although this possibility is not yet proven.
It is then wise, for men who are recovering from COVID-19 to abstain from sex and those who have recovered to use protection so that they do not pass on the virus to their partners until at least it is proven that it cannot be sexually transmitted.
No follow-up with the men was conducted to see if the virus survived for long periods of time in semen and if it was viable.
Dr Diangeng Li of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, suggested the coronavirus may one day be found to be sexually transmissible so abstinence or condom use might be considered as preventive means for these patients.
It should be noted that traces of the virus were also found in urine and faeces.