ERECTILE dysfunction could be a symptom of long Covid, experts claim.
They said it may be even more reason for young men to accept their vaccine offer – as an NHS chief has warned long Covid is a threat to young Brits.
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Men could struggle to get an erection after suffering coronavirus infection, docs have warned
Coronavirus infection is known to impact the blood vessels in some cases, despite it being a respiratory virus.
The inflammation of the vessels may restrict blood flow to penis, making it difficult for a man to get it up, scientists suggest.
If the penis can’t keep blood in the area, then the erection would be lost.
Other vascular diseases, such as coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, are risk factors for erectile dysfunction.
Speaking of Covid, Dr Ryan Berglund, a urologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, told the LA Times: “The blood vessels themselves that can become inflamed… could cause an obstructive phenomenon and negatively impact the ability to get erections.”
He said he had seen some patients himself who had been suffering the condition after being infected with coronavirus.
Dr Berglund joked: “Having vaccinations leads to having more sex.
“I would suggest for young people to get their vaccinations: If they want to have sex, better to get the vaccine.”
So far, the evidence of the link between Covid and impotence is mainly anecdotal, and “we don’t know the scale of the problem at this point”, Dr Berglund said.
It can’t be proven as the cause of the men’s erectile dysfunction, as “anything that could affect the ability of the artery to effectively deliver sufficient blood supply could lead to erectile dysfunction”.
Emmanuele Jannini, professor of endocrinology and medical sexology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata in Italy, has also warned erectile dysfunction may be a symptom of long Covid.
And he suspects “erectile dysfunction that occurs after Covid-19 could last long after the disease has resolved”.
In an scientific article published last July co-authored by Prof Jannini, he and a group of Italian scientists said erectile dysfunction was a “likely consequence of Covid-19 for survivors”.
Prof Jannini explained the virus “triggers inflammation of the blood vessels”, and “when those blood vessels and the rest of the cardiovascular system are harmed, it can trigger erectile dysfunction”.
There are a couple of other theories, including that a lack of oxygen associated with struggling lungs may “impair erectile function”.
Prof Jannini said patients whose Covid infection was serious and resulted in pneumonia were probably at higher risk.
It could also be that mental health problems triggered by Covid-related stress or anxiety could also lead to problems in the bedroom.
But the paper concluded that future research was needed to establish how Covid might lead to erectile dysfunction.
It comes as experts have warned of an epidemic of long Covid cases in young people, as infections soar in the UK – mostly in those who are unvaccinated.
An NHS chief has said there is a “real nervousness” about the number of unvaccinated young people who have mild Covid symptoms but go on to develop more severe long Covid.
Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, told BBC Breakfast the long term consequences of the virus aren’t even known yet.
Mr Hopson said he had spoken to the chief executive of an NHS trust about the issue, revealing docs were “really getting quite worried” about the number of unvaccinated young who had mild Covid symptoms “quite quickly afterwards developing much more severe long Covid-type symptoms”.
He added: “And we just don’t know exactly how this is going to pan out so we just need to be careful about recognising the risks that we’re running here.
“It’s not just about hospitalisations, it’s actually potentially people having really quite serious long-term conditions once they have caught Covid.
“What they were saying was it wasn’t just a few of these young people who had mild Covid symptoms and then really quite severe long Covid symptoms, it was actually quite a few.
“So there’s a real nervousness here about we still don’t fully understand what the long-term health consequences are if you catch Covid. So we all need to be careful and aware of the risks here.”
Meanwhile, more than 100 scientists and doctors have pleaded with the Government not to abandon all restrictions on July 19 because it is a “dangerous and unethical experiment”.
One of their key arguments is that an exponential growth of the virus “will likely continue until millions more are infected, leaving hundreds of thousands with long-term illness and disability”.
They also stressed there was a risk of long Covid to the wider population, especially those who were vulnerable and children.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the Council for the British Medical Association, said: “The Government has also airbrushed the impact of long Covid on one in 10 people getting infected and with two million having been unwell for more than three months.
