COVID-19 Virus Can Cause Severe Testicular Damage – Possible Low Sex Drive and Infertility
By HONG KONG UNIVERSITY
Researchers at the Department of Microbiology of The University of Hong Kong (HKU) have found that the COVID19 virus can cause acute testicular damage, chronic asymmetric testicular atrophy, and hormonal changes in hamsters despite a light pneumonia.
“In managing
convalescent COVID-19 males, it is important to
be aware of possible hypogonadism (low sex drive) and subfertility,” said Chair
of Infectious Diseases Professor Kwok-yung Yuen, who led the research effort. “
COVID-19 vaccination can prevent this complication.”
The HKU study of
testicular damage of the virus, SARS-CoV-2, has been
accepted for publication in the leading journal Clinical
Infectious Diseases.
WARNING: Below the fold are actual autopsy photos of human testicles from deceased COVID patients. Obviously, this is potentially disturbing especially to anti-vaxxers who think COVID is nothing more than the flu.
Previous studies have reported testicular pain
in COVID-19 patients. One autopsy study of males who died from COVID-19 showed
orchitis with lots of testicular cell damage, but SARS -CoV-2 was not
consistently found in semen specimens.
The HKU team investigated the testicular and hormonal changes of hamsters infected by virus given through the intranasal or direct testicular route using the influenza virus in the control group. The research finds that virus-infected hamsters developed self-limiting pneumonia. But even intranasal SARS-CoV-2 challenge caused acute decrease in sperm count, and serum testosterone starting from the 4 to 7 days.
The SARS-CoV-2 infected hamsters developed testicular atrophy with
reduced testicular size and weight. The serum sex hormone level was markedly
reduced at 42 to 120 days after infection (dpi). Acute testicular inflammation,
haemorrhage, and necrosis of seminiferous tubules, and disruption of
spermatogenesis were seen.
From 7 to 120 dpi, the inflammation, degeneration, and necrosis of testicular tissue persisted. Intranasal challenge with Omicron and Delta variants were found to induce similar testicular changes. These testicular damages can be prevented by vaccination.
The control group of
hamsters challenged by influenza A virus given intranasally or
intra-testicularly showed no testicular infection or damage.
Reference: “Severe acute
respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections by intranasal or
testicular inoculation induces testicular damage preventable by vaccination in
golden Syrian hamsters” by Can Li, Zhanhong Ye, Anna Jin-Xia Zhang, Jasper
Fuk-Woo Chan, Wenchen Song, Feifei Liu, Yanxia Chen, Mike Yat-Wah Kwan, Andrew
Chak-Yiu Lee, Yan Zhao, Bosco Ho-Yin Wong, Cyril Chik-Yan Yip, Jian-Piao Cai,
David Christopher Lung, Siddharth Sridhar, Dongyan Jin, Hin Chu, Kelvin
Kai-Wang To and Kwok-Yung Yuen, Accepted, Clinical Infectious Diseases.
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