Coronavirus found in patients' semen in small Chinese study

The virus that causes COVID-19 can be found in semen, Chinese researchers report in a small study that doesn't address whether sexual transmission is possible.

Doctors detected the virus in semen from six of 38 men hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. Four were still very sick with the disease while two were recovering.

The report from Shangqiu Municipal Hospital in China was published Thursday in JAMA Network Open.

There was no long-term follow-up so it is not known how long the virus may remain in semen or if men can spread it to their partners during sex.

The results contrast with a study of 34 Chinese men with COVID-19 published last month in the journal Fertility and Sterility. U.S. and Chinese researchers found no evidence of virus in semen tested between eight days and almost three months after diagnosis.

Dr. John Hotaling of the University of Utah, co-author of that report, said the new study involved much sicker men, most with active disease.