Coronavirus can be passed on during sex, a new study suggests.<\/p>\n
Researchers claim that men who had recovered from the infection still had COVID-19 in their semen, according to The Sun<\/a><\/i>.<\/p>\n Experts suggest men should consider abstaining from love making or use a condom to help halt the spread.<\/p>\n Chinese scientists analysed the output of 38 patients who had caught the illness \u2013 15 who were still in hospital and 23 who had recovered.<\/p>\n Overall six men, or 16 per cent, had the virus SARS-CoV-2, which causes coronavirus, in their sperm sample \u2013 and two of them were already over their illness.<\/p>\n Scientists say it suggests the bug can persist much longer in the testes and could be spread later through sex.<\/p>\n RELATED: Follow more coronavirus news<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n Writing in the journal JAMA Network Open, researcher Dr Shixi Zhang, from the Shangqiu Municipal Hospital, says \u201cthe survival of SARS-CoV-2 in a recovering patient\u2019s semen maintains the likelihood to infect others\u201d.<\/p>\n He added if bigger trials show coronavirus is passed on during sex, the recovering men should be encouraged to \u201cabstain or use condoms\u201d to prevent transmission.<\/p>\n Brit experts said the findings were \u201cinteresting\u201d.<\/p>\n Prof Allan Pacey, Professor of Andrology at Sheffield University, said: \u201cIt shows that RNA for the virus responsible for COVID-19 can be detected in the semen of a proportion 16 per cent of men with a confirmed infection.<\/p>\n \u201cThis opens up the possibility that one route of infection may be through sexual contact, although this was not confirmed in the paper.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, we should not be surprised if the virus which causes COVID-19 is found in the semen of some men since this is been shown with many other viruses such as ebola and zika.\u201d<\/p>\n Others scientists said the study raised \u201cimportant questions\u201d.<\/p>\n Professor Richard Sharpe, from Edinburgh University and a Member of the Society of Endocrinology, said: \u201cIt found a minority of men who have had COVID-19 infection diagnosed in a hospital, also exhibit the presence of COVID-19 virus in their semen.<\/p>\n “This included men in the active stage of infection but also a couple of men who were in the clinical stages of recovery from COVID-19.<\/p>\n \u201cThis finding raises the possibility that COVID-19 might also be transmissible via semen and thus via sexual contact, perhaps including during the recovery phase.\u201d<\/p>\n He said learning how long the virus persists in semen samples should be a priority to prevent the bug from spreading.<\/p>\n This story originally appeared on The Sun<\/a> and has been republished with permission.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n