A new preprint study from researchers at Tulane University in Louisiana that has not yet been peer-reviewed indicates that COVID-19 infection could target male genital organs.
“Our results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 rapidly and efficiently infects multiple tissues of the male genital tract (MGT) early during infection in rhesus [macaque],” monkeys, it said.
The study was published Monday to the bioRxiv preprint server. Researchers from the Tulane National Primate Research Center – a 500-acre complex with more than four thousand primates in Covington, La. – conducted it, according to The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate.
According to National Geographic, rhesus macaques “have an important history with humans and have aided a great deal of medical and scientific research.”
Human and rhesus genomes share about 93 percent of sequences, said Penn State Eberly College of Science. In addition to the rhesus monkeys, “SARS-CoV-2 infection of the testicles has been reported in mouse and hamster respiratory challenge models,” said the study.
However, Tulane researchers did not quite expect the results they found.
“Surprisingly, the male reproductive tract lit up like a Christmas tree,” said Ronald Veazey, a professor of pathology at the Tulane University School of Medicine and an author of the study. “We weren’t even thinking male – it just happened to be a male macaque.”
Part of the reason why COVID-19 infection might impact male reproductive organs is the high number of ACE2 enzymes located in these reproductive tissues. SARS-CoV-2 binds uses these enzymes to bind to cells. Another might be the large network of blood vessels in the tissues.
“What tissue in the body would be the most responsive and have the most expansion and contraction? The penis,” Veazey said. “It’s a major target.”
WLL 4 reported that the study does not address whether COVID-19 might have a long-term impact on male genital organs or “whether the high viral load corresponds to symptoms like pain, erectile dysfunction or low sperm count.”
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