A new study has shown that the presence of testicles makes men more vulnerable to Coronavirus.
According to a preliminary report posted on MedRxix, researchers in
India followed recovery of 68 patients in Mumbai to study the gender
disparity of the virus and Dr. Aditi Shastri, an oncologist at
Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, and her mother, Dr. Jayanthi
Shastri — a microbiologist at the Kasturba Hospital for Infectious
Diseases in Mumbai have now revealed that the virus attaches itself to a
protein that occurs in high levels in the testicles.
According to the study, Coronavirus could linger in men’s testicles
as the virus bonds with proteins in the body that are found in the
lungs, intestine, heart and also the testicles explaining why the
disease is more prevalent in men than women.
According to the study, COVID-19 binds with cells that express the
ACE2 protein, or angiotensin converting enzyme 2 which is less prevalent
in ovarian tissue.
If it is less prevalent in ovarian tissue but more present in
testicular tissue then that means COVID-19 has an extra place to reside
in men according to the study.
Dr. Aditi Shastri and Dr. Jayanthi Shastri in a statement
said; “These observations demonstrate that male subjects have delayed
viral clearance,”
‘High expression of ACE2 RNA and protein in testes leads to the
hypothesis that testicular viral reservoirs may exist and play a role in
viral persistence, and should be further investigated by larger
clinical studies ” the authors wrote, adding that the testicles may be
serving as reservoirs for the virus.
A Professor of Virology from the University of Reading, Ian Jones,
also told Daily Mail: ‘Men generally do worse than women in
immunological outcomes, possibly the result of only one X chromosome,
and I think that this imbalance is more likely behind the differences
seen.’
