📖 Long COVID could be leading to a wave of erectile dysfunction as the pandemic invades our sex lives

Carolyn Barber / Fortune • 17 August 2022

❦ ‘Statistics are significant regarding the link between COVID-19 and impotence.


In the largest study to date on this topic, Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy, director of male reproductive medicine and surgery for the University of Miami Health System, says:


“We found the risk of getting diagnosed with erectile dysfunction (ED) was about 20% higher in men who had COVID versus those who did not.”


Survey studies in China and Italy, among multiple others, support the notion of a link between ejaculation difficulty and the virus – a study of nearly half a million adults published in Nature* identified ejaculation difficulty and reduced libido as Long COVID symptoms in men.


*📖 (25 Jul 2022 ~ Nature: Medicine) Symptoms and risk factors for long COVID in non-hospitalized adults ➤


“We know that COVID infection, especially with high fever, can significantly drop sperm counts and motility (the number of sperm moving),” says Raevti Bole, a Cleveland Clinic fellow in male fertility and andrology.


A University of Florida Health study* found reports of impotence were three times as likely after an infection.


*📖 (14 Mar 2022 ~ Miami Herald) Can COVID cause sexual dysfunction? Here's what experts know – and what they don’t ➤


“Men are generally reluctant to report sexual dysfunction, suggesting that the problem may be greater than we know.”


COVID-19 can adversely affect endothelial cell function, which is a significant clue.


These cells release substances that modulate vascular relaxation and contraction, so damage to them is likely to impair a wide range of functions, including the body’s ability to get proper blood flow to the penis when it’s most urgently needed.


Ramasamy and his researchers have found evidence of the virus remaining within the endothelial cells of penile tissue as much as seven months after infection, which suggests that direct damage to cavernosal endothelium may affect erectile function.


A non-peer-reviewed, pre-print study conducted on COVID-infected monkeys by researchers at Northwestern Medicine found that multiple sites within the male genital tract, including the prostate, penis and testicles, were infected with SARS-CoV-2.


Ramasamy described it as “probably the best evidence we have that the virus can remain within these organs and can replicate”.’


❂


📖 (17 Aug 2022 ~ Fortune) Long COVID could be leading to a wave of erectile dysfunction as the pandemic invades our sex lives ➤


📖 (15 Dec 2021 ~ Sexual Medicine) COVID-19 Infection Is Associated With New Onset Erectile Dysfunction: Insights From a National Registry ➤


© 2023 Carolyn Barber / Fortune.