Zika infection can break down and severely damage the animal’s testes, according to a new study which suggests that the virus may affect male fertility.
Zika virus is largely transmitted to people through mosquito bites, the virus can also be sexually transmitted from person to person and through blood transfusion. It can be found in the semen of infected men, but the impact of Zika on the human male reproductive system is largely unknown, said researchers from the Washington University in the US.
Researchers infected male mice with a mouse-adapted African or Asian Zika virus strain, or with the related dengue virus. Every seven days, they examined samples of mouse testes to look for damage and tested cells from those organs for evidence of the virus.
Although the closely related dengue virus did not appear to infect the testes of mice, researchers found that cells in the testes showed signs of Zika infection by day seven. After 14 days, the testes visibly shrank in size. As Zika infection progressed, the seminiferous tubules where sperm is formed began to break down.
Additionally, the researchers found that inflammatory cells mounted a response, which added to the damage caused by the virus.
