Coronavirus invades cells in monkeys’ penis and testes, researchers find

The coronavirus can infect tissue in the male genital tract, new research on rhesus macaques has shown. The finding suggests that symptoms such as erectile dysfunction reported by some Covid-19 patients may be directly caused by the virus, not the inflammation or fever that usually accompany the illness.

Research demonstrated that the coronavirus infected the prostate, penis, testes and surrounding blood vessels in three rhesus macaques. They were examined with specially designed full-body scans to detect sites of infection.

Scientists — who had hoped to find the coronavirus in spots like the lungs, but didn’t know where else they would find it — were somewhat surprised by the discovery.

“The signal that stood out to us was complete spread through the male genital tract,” said Thomas Hope, the paper’s lead author and professor of cell and developmental biology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “We had no idea we’d find him there.”

When her team initially analyzed a scanned image of the first animal, one of the scientists asked, “What sex was the animal again?” Hope said.

“I said, ‘I think it’s female.’ And she said, ‘I don’t think it’s female.’ I went down to the bottom of the picture, which was almost cut off, and the testicles were well lit. radar,” Hope said.

The paper relied on findings in just three monkeys, but the conclusions were consistent, Hope said. The study has not yet been peer-reviewed for publication in a journal and was published on Monday (28) on the bioRxiv website.

The work was carried out at the Tulane National Primate Research Center in Louisiana. The researchers don’t know whether the monkeys had symptoms corresponding to the viral infection of the male genital tract, such as low testosterone, low sperm count, pain or sexual dysfunction, Hope said.

About 10% to 20% of men infected with the coronavirus have symptoms linked to genital tract dysfunction, studies have reported.

Men infected with the virus are three to six times more likely than others to develop erectile dysfunction, which is believed to be a long-term indicator of Covid-19.

Patients have also reported symptoms such as testicular pain, reduced sperm count and reduced sperm quality, decreased fertility, and hypogonadism, a condition in which the testes produce insufficient amounts of testosterone, leading to low sex drive, sexual dysfunction, and reduced fertility. .

Other viruses are known to affect fertility, Hope noted. “Mumps is more famous historically for causing sterility,” she said. “The Zika virus goes to the testicles and infects them, and Ebola can do that too.”

While a small fraction of men experience such complications after being infected with the coronavirus, millions could experience sexual and reproductive health problems after the pandemic, simply because the virus has infected so many people around the world, Hope warned.

He urged men to get vaccinated and seek a medical evaluation if they are concerned about their sexual or reproductive health.

The positron emission tomography used in the new study is designed to identify the sites of coronavirus infection in live animals. The technology makes it possible to make repeated and sequential scans of an animal, tracking how the virus travels through the body and how it is eliminated.

Now Hope wants to determine whether the testes are a reservoir for the coronavirus, a hypothesis raised by some scientists. He will also look at whether the virus infects tissues in the female reproductive system.
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The hope is to use the information to develop treatments that mitigate the pandemic’s effect on fertility. Scans can also detect the location of the virus in patients and tailor treatments accordingly.

^{Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves}