A small cohort study in China found Sars-CoV-2 in semen, suggesting that coronavirus transmission could occur through sexual contact. Researchers tested the semen of 38 men who had tested positive for COVID-19 in China. Twenty-three patients had achieved a clinical recovery, and 15 were still in the acute infection stage. Six semen samples tested positive for COVID-19, with four positives coming from acute cases and two from recovered patients.
If it could be proved that SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted sexually in future studies, sexual transmission might be a critical part of the prevention of transmission, especially considering the fact that SARS-CoV-2 was detected in the semen of recovering patients.”
JAMA Network
This is a very small study, and the implications of the results are unclear. Other similar studies haven’t received any positives in semen. It is also not unheard of for semen to test positive for other viruses.
However, we should not be surprised if the virus which causes Covid-19 is found in the semen of some men, since this has been shown with many other viruses such as Ebola and Zika…”
Allan Pacey, Sheffield University