suggest more caution in reproduction protocols during the pandemic. He has studied the impact of COVID-19 on reproductive and sexual health since 2020, when he volunteered on the front line as an emergency room physician at HC-FM-USP.
His research group, which includes colleagues in FM-USP’s Department of Pathology, has already made important discoveries in the field, such as the higher risk of severe COVID-19 infection and death from the disease for men simply because of their sex, possibly because of the abundance of ACE2 receptors and TMPRSS2 in testes, whereas ovaries have only ACE2 receptors. The virus uses ACE2 to invade cells; TMPRSS2 is a protein that enables the virus to bind to ACE2 on the cell surface.
In a study conducted with members of HC-FM-USP’s Clinical Urology Division, the group found that health workers experienced a sharp drop in libido and sexual satisfaction, as well as increased consumption of pornography and more frequent masturbation, due to the pandemic.
Further Studies on Long-term Effects
The group also discovered that the testes are potential targets for infection by the virus, which causes subclinical epididymitis (inflammation of the epididymis, a narrow tube attached to each testicle that stores, matures, and transports sperm cells), and showed for the first time the severity of the testicular lesions associated with COVID-19.
Reference: “Transmission electron microscopy reveals the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in human spermatozoa associated with an ETosis-like response” by Jorge Hallak, Elia G. Caldini, Thiago A. Teixeira, Maria Cassia Mendes Correa, Amaro N. Duarte-Neto, Fabiola Zambrano, Anja Taubert, Carlos Hermosilla, Joël R. Drevet, Marisa Dolhnikoff, Raul Sanchez and Paulo H. N. Saldiva, 12 March 2024, Andrology.
DOI: 10.1111/andr.13612
The group of physicians and scientists at HC-FM-USP, led by Professor Carlos Carvalho, is currently investigating the lagging effects of infection by SARS-CoV-2 in more than 700 patients originally assessed for a Thematic Project funded by FAPESP.