Experts say they have found traces of Covid-19 in the sperm
of men who have recovered from the disease.
A doctor is encouraging people who had coronavirus to
abstain from sex or use condoms if further trials show the disease is passed on
by sex.
A study of 38 patients found that six of them - including
two who had recovered - had Covid-19 in their semen.
British experts pointed out that viruses such as Ebola and
Zika can also be carried in the semen of men who have recovered from the
illnesses.
According to the Sun, Allan Pacey, professor of Andrology at
Sheffield University, said: “It shows that RNA for the virus responsible for
Covid-19 can be detected in the semen of a proportion 16 per cent of men with a
confirmed infection.
"This opens up the possibility that one route of
infection may be through sexual contact, although this was not confirmed in the
paper."
Professor Richard Sharpe, from Edinburgh University, called
on scientists to establish how long the virus can stay in the sperm.
He added: “This finding raises the possibility that Covid-19
might also be transmissible via semen and thus via sexual contact, perhaps
including during the recovery phase.”