A peer-reviewed study has found that hantavirus can survive in human semen for up to six years after infection, raising concerns about potential sexual transmission even after a patient has fully recovered.
According to The Telegraph, hantavirus can remain in human semen for up to six years and poses a potential sexual transmission risk long after recovery, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Viruses.
The research, conducted at Switzerland’s Spiez Laboratory, examined a 55-year-old man infected with the Andes strain of hantavirus six years earlier. Although the virus had cleared from his blood, urine and respiratory tract, it remained detectable in his semen 71 months later.
Analysts at Airfinity recommended that male patients receive “extensive safe-sex guidance beyond the [42-day] quarantine,” adding the guidance should be “analogous to the World Health Organization’s Ebola survivor semen-monitoring protocols.”
The UK Health Security Agency told The Telegraph: “UKHSA keeps all guidance under constant review and monitors emerging evidence, including international research, as it becomes available. Any individuals in England who are confirmed as cases or identified as contacts will be provided with all necessary public health advice, including on reducing the risk of onward transmission.”
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