No Evidence of SARS-CoV-2 Seminal Shedding Despite SARS-CoV-2 Persistence in the Upper Respiratory Tract

Stephen A Rawlings; Caroline Ignacio; Magali Porrachia; Pinyi Du; Davey M Smith; Antoine Chaillon

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofaa325

No Evidence of SARS-CoV-2 Seminal Shedding Despite SARS-CoV-2 Persistence in the Upper Respiratory Tract

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2020 Aug 7;7(8):ofaa325. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofaa325. eCollection 2020 Aug.

Authors

Stephen A Rawlings¹, Caroline Ignacio¹, Magali Porrachia¹, Pinyi Du¹, Davey M Smith¹, Antoine Chaillon¹

Affiliation

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, USA.

Abstract

RNA viruses (eg, Zika, Ebola, HIV) are often shed in male genital secretions. We evaluated the presence and level of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in semen, nasal secretion, and saliva collected after confirmed infection. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was not detected in semen 6-17 days after the onset of symptoms despite concomitant shedding in oral secretions.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; semen; shedding; transmission.

Grants and funding

T32 AI007384/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/United States