Male genital damage in COVID-19 patients:Are available data relevant?

摘要

Over the past few weeks,we have observed increasing concern about the possible impact of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2 virus)on male fertility.Precise mechanisms of male reproductive damages are still unclear,but it seems that high temperature resulting from persistent fever and triggering a secondary autoimmune response leading to an autoimmune orchitis are the most likely involved mechanisms.Also,angiotensin conversion enzyme 2(ACE2)plays a highly important role in cellular entry for SARS-CoV-2 and male genital system presents high ACE2 expression.All these preliminary findings suggest that COVID-19 could impact men's reproductive health.Thus,we examined available data including published and unpublished articles to assess the potential risk of COVID-19 in particular on the male reproductive system.