Thread by @DrEricDing

📍Coronavirus may infect tissue within the male genital tract, new macaques research shows. Study suggests that symptoms like erectile dysfunction reported by some #COVID19 patients may be caused directly by the virus, not by inflammation. #CovidIsNotOver
nytimes.com/2022/03/01/hea…

2) The research demonstrated that the coronavirus infected the prostate, penis, testicles and surrounding blood vessels in three male rhesus macaques. The monkeys were examined with whole body scans specially designed to detect sites of infection.

3) Scientists — who expected to find the coronavirus in spots like the lungs but did not know where else they would find it — were somewhat surprised by the discovery.

4) “The signal that jumped out at us was the complete spread through the male genital tract,” said Thomas Hope, the paper’s senior author and a professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. “We had no idea we would find it there.”

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

6) Men infected with the virus are three to six times as likely as others to develop erectile dysfunction, believed to be an indicator of so-called #LongCovid.

Cc: @jimmy_wales

7) Patients have also reported testicular pain, reduced sperm counts 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 & reduced fertility. 👀