Alliance for Pandemic Preparedness

April 17, 2020

Delayed clearance of SARS-CoV-2 in male compared to female patients: High ACE2 expression in testes suggests possible existence of gender-specific viral reservoirs

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  • In this study, the authors evaluate the time to viral clearance in 68 symptomatic patients (71% males and 29% females), and report that females achieved viral clearance significantly earlier than males, with a median difference of 2 days. 
  • Shastri et al hypothesize that high expression of ACE2 in testes could indicate that testicular viral reservoirs may play a role in viral persistence, and this could have important implications for understanding the transmission and persistence of SARS-CoV-2. 

Shastri et al. (Apr 17, 2020). Delayed clearance of SARS-CoV-2 in male compared to female patients: High ACE2 expression in testes suggests possible existence of gender-specific viral reservoirs. Pre-print downloaded Apr 17 from https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.04.16.20060566