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Medicine

Coronavirus Found In Men's Semen (cnn.com) 100

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: 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, Chinese researchers said Thursday. A team at Shangqiu Municipal Hospital tested 38 male patients treated there at the height of the pandemic in China, in January and February. About 16% of them had evidence of the coronavirus in their semen, the team reported in the journal JAMA Network Open. About a quarter of them were in the acute stage of infection and nearly 9% of them were recovering, the team reported. It's not a surprising finding. Many viruses can live in the male reproductive tract. Ebola and Zika virus were both found to spread in semen, sometimes months after a male patient had recovered. It's not yet clear if coronavirus can spread this way. Finding evidence of virus does not necessarily mean it's infectious.
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Coronavirus Found In Men's Semen

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  • by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Friday May 08, 2020 @09:06AM (#60035890)

    If a guy tells you he can "inject you" with a cure for COVID-19, he might actually do the complete opposite!

    • by Anonymous Coward

      In Africa, the cure for AIDS is to have sex with a virgin.

      • This was the "cure" for syphillis in England in Victorian times. Some pervs will use any excuse possible.

    • Geez....

      As if AIDs and other regular STD's didn't make it difficult enough to get laid without having to wrap yourself in a vulcanized Firestone tire....now this?

  • Don't worry (Score:5, Funny)

    by mobby_6kl ( 668092 ) on Friday May 08, 2020 @09:10AM (#60035908)

    Your old sock can't get infected.

  • by jm007 ( 746228 ) on Friday May 08, 2020 @09:12AM (#60035916)
    25% were in the acute stage

    not sure where I'm going with this, but let's try to picture the situation in which you're laid up in bed, sick as a dog, hacking, coughing, burning with fever and hoping not drown in your own mucus..... and someone wants to extract some of your semen....
    • Well I suppose that your dear old mum still has to pay the rent somehow.
    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      25% were in the acute stage

      what about the ones who are not so cute? asking for a friend.

    • Imagine the nurse. "Could you turn on your side, this will just take a minute, pretend I'm not here. Please stop fussing, I can do this with a needle you know."

  • Coronacum (Score:4, Funny)

    by AndyKron ( 937105 ) on Friday May 08, 2020 @09:18AM (#60035932)
    Coronacum
    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Coronacum

      How did this get to +5 funny? It seems to me just pointless and juvenile. Is there a delicious pun here that I'm missing? This is a serious question.

  • Makes sense (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Joe2020 ( 6760092 )

    Considering that semen isn't produced "Just-In-Time" but rather over time and then kept in the epididymis until it is needed does it makes sense to suspects that the virus is simply hiding in the epididymis with the rest of the buggers. Guess I know what I'll have to do once the lockdown ends ...

    • Re:Makes sense (Score:5, Informative)

      by poptopdrop ( 6713596 ) on Friday May 08, 2020 @09:26AM (#60035966)
      You are confusing semen with sperm. The facts: https://www.stdcheck.com/blog/... [stdcheck.com]
      • No, I was replying to the news bit. It refers to semen and the fact that the virus can remain so long in the body could well be because of it residing in the epididymis.

        • No you're not understanding basic biology. Semen has other components, only 5 percent is produced in epididmys and testes. A quarter comes from prostate and the rest from the seminal vesicles.

          • No, you're only not following the subject. The research is about semen and not about sperm. I am simply saying that semen isn't being produced "Just-In-Time". Take a breath before you continue to reply and reread my comment. I didn't say sperm is semen.

            • You are the one being ignorant. There is no semen in the epididymides. Zero. Get that through your skull. The likely resevoir for viruses is elsewhere in the system that produces the bulk of semen.

              • No. I used the word "buggers" to describe sperm cells. You just didn't catch that and got your knickers in a twist over it now. Why do you even want to be upset?

                • because you're saying the virus likely could be in the epididymis. No, it couldn't, it is not likely at all. Most of semen comes from other organs.

      • by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 08, 2020 @09:46AM (#60036026)

        You are confusing semen with sperm.

        I can't seem to stop getting those two mixed up.

    • You're saying it's stuck inside you until you get a chance to go outside?

      Anyway, last week police warned me to stop walking around the house naked. I told them I'd promise to stay inside from now on.

      • *lol* sort of! I was thinking along the lines of the "wash your hands like your life depends on it"-slogan.

  • So, we just found the real reason the virus tears a path of death and destruction through STD-breeding-labs, a.k.a. nursing homes.

  • by rkhalloran ( 136467 ) on Friday May 08, 2020 @09:58AM (#60036062) Homepage
    less than 40 patients were checked, 16% of those (6-7?) were acute at the time and another 9% (3-4) in recovery, so given the severity of this disease they're presumably not especially interested in sexual activity? They might have virus in their semen but what's the likelihood they're going to actually transmit it? Not to get graphic, but the most likely threat is to hospital staff cleaning up the results of wet dreams.
  • Men's semen? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kaizendojo ( 956951 ) on Friday May 08, 2020 @10:05AM (#60036084)
    Women's semen is totally fine though. Seriously? Did we need the "men's" qualifier for this?
    • I have been reliably told that women can have penises and sperm. Has anyone tested women's sperm?
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's to clarify that it's human jizz.

      • Now look up how many genetic combinations there actually are in humans.

        I mean seriously, you're an adult, you've heard about this before. What the hell.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by rogoshen1 ( 2922505 )

      It's 2020 and gender is a completely artificial construct. So yes, women can have wieners and men can have vaginas. Get with the time gramps.

      • by marklark ( 39287 )
        I'm sorry, but did you forget to include a set of <sarc> tags?
        • I'm sorry, but did you forget to include a set of tags?

          Sadly, we have reached a day in age, to where a significant enough number of people ACTUALLY think and feel that way.

          What used to be common sense has gone straight out the door.

      • Seems like it should just say human semen. Otherwise it implies that women's semen is not a carrier. Sure, they probably haven't tested semen from trans women, but it would be logical to assume all semen could be a potential vector for infection until the opposite is proven true. I mean, many trans women undergo no medical intervention so there should be no discernible difference in those cases. To that end there would probably need to be several different studies on trans women - no medical interventio

      • It's 2020 and gender is a completely artificial construct. So yes, women can have wieners and men can have vaginas. Get with the time gramps.

        It is actually a completely natural construct.

        It would make me sad if you looked down upon your genitals and said to yourself: this is all just artificial.

    • It's 2020, have you answered the "gender" question in an online form lately, there are 4 to 5 options. To be politically correct this article needs to say: Coronavirus found in human beings, who were born with a penis and who's body produces semen, semen.
    • How many identified XXY samples do you have in your COVID-19 data set?

      This is unlikely to become substantive.

    • What's the difference between a blonde and a sailor? The blonde's got the higher sperm count.
  • Good news, Slashdot's user-base doing its part to keep the world safe. No chance of re-transmission around here.
  • So you're in intensive care, fighting for life and along comes some scientist and asks you to...???

  • by Jhon ( 241832 ) on Friday May 08, 2020 @10:29AM (#60036190) Homepage Journal

    More importatnly -- are post-infection antibodies found in men's semen? And can we use this as a good excuse to inoculate the ladies?

    If found to be true there shall be "infection" parties for men world wide -- all willing the risk of death for what will necessarily follow if they survive.

  • Simple fix -- UV underwear!
    • Simple fix -- UV underwear!

      Or UV catheter... OW OW OW.

      • Mr President, could you demonstrate the effects of inserting this catheter and injecting strong hypochlorite bleach into it, and you.

        Live, on camera, here's a tiny, tiny handkerchief to cover what little modesty you have left after your years of whoring yourself for popularity.

  • by msauve ( 701917 ) on Friday May 08, 2020 @10:38AM (#60036252)
    GET THAT SWAB AWAY FROM ME!
  • ...I'm not sure I want to know how they got semen from a guys who were in the acute stage of infection.

  • Truly these researchers need to find something different to study. Whoever is funding this needs to take a good look at what exactly they are studying. I swear this is the 2nd time in 2 days I have heard of a study of covid-19 and semen/sperm (granted yesterday was a week old podcast).

    Plus in the greater scheme of things what scenario does a transaction that results in male ejaculation does not involved the transfer of additional bodily fluid or other physical contact??? Please consider this question rh

    • If it can remain transmissible for months after recovery, this is an important piece of data to understand to prevent continued spread. Other viruses have remained hidden in the same way, so yes, this is actually something that should be understood.

  • ...Apache Attack Helicopter 'tracts'?

  • mo' 'rona (Score:1, Funny)

    by PopeRatzo ( 965947 )

    Well, now we know how Rand Paul and Boris Johnson got it.

  • Testicles are immunoprivileged. This is pretty much just a confirmation of what was expected anyways.

  • by Thomsen ( 30383 ) on Friday May 08, 2020 @12:06PM (#60036770)

    This is probably not surprising since both Leydig cells and Sertoli cells express ACE2. Both Leydig cells and Sertoli cells are found in the testes, where Sertoli cells is a central player in the spermatogenesis, while Leydig cells produce testosterone. ACE2 is the transmembrane protein SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter cells. The expression of ACE2 on these cells was already shown in a study from 2004 published in Endocrinology https://academic.oup.com/endo/... [oup.com] (paywalled).

  • by Evtim ( 1022085 ) on Friday May 08, 2020 @12:55PM (#60037058)

    There is a communist plot to contaminate our precious bodily fluids!

  • If you're sick as a dog, are you really gonna be in the mood to hit on your wife or girlfriend? And, even if you are somehow up to the task, is she actually going to put up with all your coughing and wheezing?

    • Well, when you're social distancing, it's less likely that people can tell you're a dog. Plus, I presume they haven't tested dog semen yet.

      • by cusco ( 717999 )

        They've tested dog intestines, which is why they think that feral dogs were the intermediate host for the virus between bats and humans.

  • Well that contradicts this study which says it can not be transferred by sex one month after being infected. I am admittedly biases because was my school. Here is the study: https://www.fertstert.org/arti... [fertstert.org]
  • in the current year, aren't we forgetting something

  • Let's go with women's semen if you need semen . . . not that there's anything wrong with that.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • ....Mitch Cumstein will not be please at the ribbing at his expense.
  • It's not as if that will affect most /. readers.

Avoid strange women and temporary variables.

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