Bet You Didn't Know Eunuchs Had a Pandemic Advantage!

[InkedFutureNullo (imported)]

Turns out Covid-19 may be attaching itself to a protein found in testicles and lingering there, causing men to have longer, more severe effects from the virus!

https://nypost.com/2020/04/19/testicles ... rus-study/

The coronavirus could linger in the testicles, making men prone to longer, more severe cases of the illness, according to a new study.

Researchers tracked the recovery of 68 patients in Mumbai, India, to study the gender disparity of the virus, which has taken a worse toll on men, according to a preliminary report posted on MedRxix, which hosts unpublished medical research papers that have not been peer reviewed.

Dr. Aditi Shastri, an oncologist at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, and her mother, Dr. Jayanthi Shastri — a microbiologist at the Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Mumbai — said the virus attaches itself to a protein that occurs in high levels in the testicles.

This protein, known as angiotensin converting enzyme 2, or ACE2, is present in the lungs, the gastrointestinal tract and the heart in addition to large quantities in the testicles.

But since testicles are walled off from the immune system, the virus could harbor there for longer periods than the rest of the body, according to the study.

The mother-daughter researchers said these findings may explain why women bounce back from the virus more quickly than men.

They determined that the average amount of time for female patients to be cleared of the virus was four days, while men saw recoveries that on average were two days longer, the report said.

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"These observations demonstrate that male subjects have delayed viral clearance," the authors wrote, adding that the testicles may be serving as "reservoirs" for the virus.

The study may offer an explanation for reports out of Italy, South Korea, and New York City that men are dying at higher rates from the virus.

Others have suggested that men are more vulnerable because they are more likely to smoke, have high blood pressure or suffer coronary artery disease.

[GordonGG (imported)]

I noticed too that more males were dying than females. This is interesting. Thanks for posting.

I'm glad I don't have those pesky, dangerous, "killing" orbs any longer.

[Missouri_Steer (imported)]

Well, it pays to be castrated. At least for lingering illness. Thanks for posting your informative news.

This is the 2nd pandemic most of us have lived thru, the first being the AIDS crisis back in the late 70's and 80's

[Tclosetgirl (imported)]

I saw the study from China that also said more males were affected and for longer/worse terms.

That said, play it safe, wear a mask for everyone else's protection. Put a vacuum bag or coffee filter inside it.

[Supranatural (imported)]

Thank you for posting this. Though, I am curious as to whether or not those on TRT have that advantage knocked away.

[JockItch (imported)]

Thank you for posting this. Though, I am curious as to whether or not those on TRT have that advantage knocked away.

I don't think you would lose the advantage by being on TRT. The article says the virus hides out in the nutz and attaches to proteins made there (not to testosterone itself). So I think if a dude had his balls removed he would still have a better chance against covid even if he is on testosterone.

[rogerwpbfl (imported)]

Well, it pays to be castrated. At least for lingering illness. Thanks for posting your informative news.

This is the 2nd pandemic most of us have lived thru, the first being the AIDS crisis back in the late 70's and 80's

Thanks for the PSA but Ima keep my balls and take my chances.

[keyman419 (imported)]

Well, it pays to be castrated. At least for lingering illness.

Whew... I got my nullification surgery just in time. It is 5 months right now. Hopefully can stay healthy.

[photoglenn (imported)]

Political posts are not permitted on the EA.

[Supranatural (imported)]

I don't think you would lose the advantage by being on TRT. The article says the virus hides out in the nutz and attaches to proteins made there (not to testosterone itself). So I think if a dude had his balls removed he would still have a better chance against covid even if he is on testosterone.

Good point.

[mattman59 (imported)]

Another great thing about being a eunuch. The COVID-19 is really hitting prisons hard. I feel sorry for the minor offenders but I'm glad it is killing off the hard core scum. They got what is coming to them all the way. I'm sure the people whose lives they made miserable and even ruined are tinkled pink and are laughing at them as they slowly suffocate on a ventilator. Good ole karma in the form of a deadly virus is executing justice. I guess the virus has its good side in killing worthless people like pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers, murderers, animal abusers, etc. or at least ruining their bad way of life. Lots of them if not most of them have high T levels which validates my argument about too much T being a bad thing. But it still is no excuse for people behaving in an evil way. Good riddance to them. Sorry if I was a little intense but that is how I feel.

[Paolo]

I feel sorry for the minor offenders but I'm glad it is killing off the hard core scum. They got what is coming to them all the way. I'm sure the people whose lives they made miserable and even ruined are tinkled pink and are laughing at them as they slowly suffocate on a ventilator. Good ole karma in the form of a deadly virus is executing justice. ... Sorry if I was a little intense but that is how I feel.

Not at all. Your views on the current situation are far, far tamer than my solution to the problem!

[rogerwpbfl (imported)]

Not at all. Your views on the current situation are far, far tamer than my solution to the problem!

C'mon Paolo, don't be like that

[Supranatural (imported)]

Another great thing about being a eunuch. The COVID-19 is really hitting prisons hard. I feel sorry for the minor offenders but I'm glad it is killing off the hard core scum. They got what is coming to them all the way. I'm sure the people whose lives they made miserable and even ruined are tinkled pink and are laughing at them as they slowly suffocate on a ventilator. Good ole karma in the form of a deadly virus is executing justice. I guess the virus has its good side in killing worthless people like pimps, prostitutes, drug dealers, murderers, animal abusers, etc. or at least ruining their bad way of life. Lots of them if not most of them have high T levels which validates my argument about too much T being a bad thing. But it still is no excuse for people behaving in an evil way. Good riddance to them. Sorry if I was a little intense but that is how I feel.

As much as I, like most people, agree with you that serious offenders being wiped out by the virus is a good thing. You still have to remember that the system is not perfect, and sometimes persons get incarcerated for a crime/s that the court think they committed, when they actually didn't.

[GordonGG (imported)]

As much as I, like most people, agree with you that serious offenders being wiped out by the virus is a good thing. You still have to remember that the system is not perfect, and sometimes persons get incarcerated for a crime/s that the court think they committed, when they actually didn't.

That is so true. Our system is not infallible. We've all heard of cases being overturned because of new DNA analysis.

[JesusA]

Shifting back to the original topic of this thread:

All of the regulars here are aware that eunuchs castrated before puberty lived an average of 15 years longer than comparable uncastrated men. The difference in life expectancy decreases with increasing age of castration, with those castrated after 40 only gaining an average of about 4 years. While there can be no controlled experiment to study the issue, there has been medical speculation about the reasons and one that keeps coming up in the literature is that lower testosterone reduces inflammation and increases resistance to infection. The hijra in India seem to have some resistance to TB, which may be a result of their castration. There was even at least one experiment where men who had experienced serious physical injury were put on temporary chemical castration to see if it would improve healing. It did, however the psychological trauma of even temporary castration was so great that the experiment was not continued. Some now think that the "cytokine storm" caused by some viruses, in which the body's immune system overreacts is a significant cause of death for Covid-19 patients. To what extent does lower testosterone help to prevent it? The question is already being asked of prostate cancer patients who are on "androgen deprivation therapy" (castration, either chemical or surgical).

[mattman59 (imported)]

Shifting back to the original topic of this thread:

All of the regulars here are aware that eunuchs castrated before puberty lived an average of 15 years longer than comparable uncastrated men. The difference in life expectancy decreases with increasing age of castration, with those castrated after 40 only gaining an average of about 4 years. While there can be no controlled experiment to study the issue, there has been medical speculation about the reasons and one that keeps coming up in the literature is that lower testosterone reduces inflammation and increases resistance to infection. The hijra in India seem to have some resistance to TB, which may be a result of their castration. There was even at least one experiment where men who had experienced serious physical injury were put on temporary chemical castration to see if it would improve healing. It did, however the psychological trauma of even temporary castration was so great that the experiment was not continued. Some now think that the "cytokine storm" caused by some viruses, in which the body's immune system overreacts is a significant cause of death for Covid-19 patients. To what extent does lower testosterone help to prevent it? The question is already being asked of prostate cancer patients who are on "androgen deprivation therapy" (castration, either chemical or surgical).

Sorry I got off the beaten track. Eunuchs do have lots of advantages both physically and mentally. If you are a eunuch be grateful for being one. It is truly a privilege because you had to go thru a lot to become one.

[Stefan (imported)]

But we can't castrate all male before puberty, then human race will be die out by time. I'm for volountary castraton. Every mal should be allwoed to decide if he want to become an Eunuch and life 15 year longer than the male. But who makes this decision by a boy that not of legal age? If you're 18 years it should be not a problem to get a volountary castration, but some physical examination must be done before.

Most patiened that died by Covid-19 here in Germany had others disases. If every thing was done right here during the crisis can be seen, when it's over. Looks like the infection rate decreases. The federal govenment and those of die "Laender" will negoatiate that next week.

[erikboy (imported)]

There are disadvantages of eunuchs as well, we should be aware that low T increases risk of aterosclerosis and diabetes. Altgough this can be reduced with more physical activity. So a physicalky active eunuch should have longest lifespan.

[JesusA]

A journalistic article, but with a link to the (free) medical article at the end:

Should Men Be Worried About Coronavirus Because of Their Testicles?

Studies show why men may be more susceptible to COVID-19 and how the virus may leave those who survive infertile

Ruth Schuster (https://www.haaretz.com/misc/writers/WRITER-1.4968353)

Haaretz.com

April 23, 2020

Men have a higher mortality rate than women from COVID-19, studies from different countries have consistently shown. Moreover, men remain infectious for longer than women, other studies have amply demonstrated. But why are men more at risk?

Because men were slower to clear the virus from their bodies than women. That may be because the virus could be hiding in their testicles, suggests a new study co-written by researchers of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and

the Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Mumbai,

India. The paper, published (https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 66v1?rss=1) in MedRxiv, has not been peer-reviewed yet.

Not every country has kept statistics on male/female deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, known to humankind since about November 2019. But among those that have, including Italy and China, the death rate (https://theconversation.com/why-do-more ... -136038%20) for males is roughly double or more than that of females. In Wuhan, the original epicenter of the virus, men accounted for almost 73 percent of the deaths ascribed to COVID-19. (By the way, COVID-19 means "coronavirus disease 2019," and not the 19th coronavirus we know).

Various explanations have been suggested for the higher mortality rate of men. One proposes that men are more prone to risk-taking behavior, so they are more likely to indulge in counter-survivalist activities, such as smoking and (in the age of coronavirus) group gatherings. But a Chinese study suggests that the answer does not lie in the demon tobacco: Half of Chinese men smoke but smokers comprised (http://https:/www.thelancet.com/journal ... X/fulltext) only somewhere between 1.4 to 12.6 percent of the male deaths , and similar results were found in New York, according to Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/anitabarth ... 753dd4574d).

Another suggestion is that women have generally stronger and more efficient immune systems than men, which on the downside renders women more prone to auto-immune disease.

All this could be spot-on and contribute to the higher male mortality rate from COVID-19. But it wouldn't explain why men clear SARS-CoV-2 from their bodies more slowly than women.

Checking 68 symptomatic subjects, 40 men and 20 women, the joint Amercian-Indian paper found an average of a two-day delay for symptomatic males to produce "clean" swab-test results compared with symptomatic females.

"Furthermore, examination of 3 families with both male and female patients followed serially, demonstrated that female members of the same household cleared the SARS-CoV-2 infection earlier in each family," the team wrote.

Where the coronavirus docks

How might the testicles be involved? To infect a cell, a coronavirus has to "dock" onto a specific protein on the target cell wall, called an ACE2 receptor - which stands for angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. Cell types with copious levels of ACE2 on their surfaces would theoretically be most susceptible to infection. Which cells copiously produce ACE2 receptor proteins? Lungs and kidneys (the renal proximal tubule; COVID-19 is also associated with kidney trouble in severe cases) - and certain testicular tissue.

Specifically, a separate paper published (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41585-020-0319-7) in Nature on Monday detailed that ACE2 is highly expressed in the seminiferous ducts of testis, adult Leydig cells (which produce hormones and are adjacent to those ducts) and in the prostate.

In the kidneys, the receptor is highly expressed in the epithelial cells of the renal tubule, which probably explains why some people with severe cases of COVID-19 have been developing kidney damage.

Conversely, ovaries do not express much ACE2, the Bronx-Mumbai study explains.

So it seems plausible that men are clearing the virus more slowly than women because they have an extra reservoir that women do not possess. It must be stressed that this has not been proven. But it is consistent with this hypothesis that gonadal loss-of-function has been reported in SARS-CoV-2 patients, indicating damage to testicular cells - especially the ones producing hormones - during infection.

On exactly the same grounds - testicular and nephritic susceptibility to coronavirus - a comment published (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41585-020-0319-7)in Nature Reviews, Urology this week urges monitoring the urogenital tract of COVID-19 patients.

"Most patients with severe COVID-19 present with pneumonia-related symptoms, but some patients with severe disease could develop serious urinary complications including acute kidney injury," writes Shangqian Wang, Xiang Zhou, Tongtong Zhang and Zengjun Wang from the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University.

"Furthermore, male reproductive systems are vulnerable to infection; dramatic changes in sex hormones in patients with COVID-19 have been observed, suggesting gonadal function impairment," the team writes.Which is a euphemism for infertility.

The changes in the sex hormones are a side effect of inflammation resulting from the immune system fighting the virus, the paper explains: "Inflammatory cytokines that are locally or systematically produced by these cells can activate the autoimmune response, destroying the seminiferous epithelium, which leads to autoimmune orchitis [inflammation of the testicles]."

The team notes that SARS, a different coronavirus, could and did attack the testicles, inducing orchitis. The SARS virus was discovered in the outer cells of testicular seminiferous tubules and Leydig cells, which produce testosterone.

Now, SARS-CoV-2 isn't the same as SARS-CoV. But both viruses have receptors in the testicles. So while COVID-19 chiefly attacks the respiratory system, doctors should watch out for urogenital complications, the team urges.

They also have a sobering word of advice for men who contracted COVID-19, recovered, and want children: "After recovery from COVID-19, young men who are interested in having children should receive a consultation regarding their fertility."

This seems to be one thing that China already knew. As early as mid-March, China Daily was warning (https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202003/ ... 7f4b1.html) men who recovered from COVID-19 to have their fertility tested. (It's worth mentioning that a steady diet (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/0 ... tern-junk/) of junk food or keeping a smartphone (https://www.haaretz.com/science-and-hea ... -1.5401638) next to boys may have similar effects.)

The authors of the study published (https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 66v1?rss=1) in MedRxiv are Aditi Shastri, Justin Wheat, Kith Pradhan, Mendel Goldfinger, Noah Kornblum, Ulrich Steidl, and Amit Verma from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine with Sachee Agrawal, Nirjhar Chaterjee and Aditi's mother Jayanthi Shastri from

the Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Mumbai.

https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.pre ... -1.8793492

The MedRxiv article:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 1.full.pdf

[rogerwpbfl (imported)]

A journalistic article, but with a link to the (free) medical article at the end:

Should Men Be Worried About Coronavirus Because of Their Testicles?

Studies show why men may be more susceptible to COVID-19 and how the virus may leave those who survive infertile

Ruth Schuster (https://www.haaretz.com/misc/writers/WRITER-1.4968353)

Haaretz.com

April 23, 2020

Men have a higher mortality rate than women from COVID-19, studies from different countries have consistently shown. Moreover, men remain infectious for longer than women, other studies have amply demonstrated. But why are men more at risk?

Because men were slower to clear the virus from their bodies than women. That may be because the virus could be hiding in their testicles, suggests a new study co-written by researchers of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and

th

e Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Mumbai,

India. The paper, published (https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 66v1?rss=1) in MedRxiv, has not been peer-reviewed yet.

Not every country has kept statistics on male/female deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, known to humankind since about November 2019. But among those that have, including Italy and China, the death rate (https://theconversation.com/why-do-more ... -136038%20) for males is roughly double or more than that of females. In Wuhan, the original epicenter of the virus, men accounted for almost 73 percent of the deaths ascribed to COVID-19. (By the way, COVID-19 means "coronavirus disease 2019," and not the 19th coronavirus we know).

Various explanations have been suggested for the higher mortality rate of men. One proposes that men are more prone to risk-taking behavior, so they are more likely to indulge in counter-survivalist activities, such as smoking and (in the age of coronavirus) group gatherings. But a Chinese study suggests that the answer does not lie in the demon tobacco: Half of Chinese men smoke but smokers comprised (http://https:/www.thelancet.com/journal ... X/fulltext) only somewhere between 1.4 to 12.6 percent of the male deaths , and similar results were found in New York, according to Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/anitabarth ... 753dd4574d).

Another suggestion is that women have generally stronger and more efficient immune systems than men, which on the downside renders women more prone to auto-immune disease.

All this could be spot-on and contribute to the higher male mortality rate from COVID-19. But it wouldn't explain why men clear SARS-CoV-2 from their bodies more slowly than women.

Checking 68 symptomatic subjects, 40 men and 20 women, the joint Amercian-Indian paper found an average of a two-day delay for symptomatic males to produce "clean" swab-test results compared with symptomatic females.

"Furthermore, examination of 3 families with both male and female patients followed serially, demonstrated that female members of the same household cleared the SARS-CoV-2 infection earlier in each family," the team wrote.

Where the coronavirus docks

How might the testicles be involved? To infect a cell, a coronavirus has to "dock" onto a specific protein on the target cell wall, called an ACE2 receptor - which stands for angiotensin-converting enzyme 2. Cell types with copious levels of ACE2 on their surfaces would theoretically be most susceptible to infection. Which cells copiously produce ACE2 receptor proteins? Lungs and kidneys (the renal proximal tubule; COVID-19 is also associated with kidney trouble in severe cases) - and certain testicular tissue.

Specifically, a separate paper published (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41585-020-0319-7) in Nature on Monday detailed that ACE2 is highly expressed in the seminiferous ducts of testis, adult Leydig cells (which produce hormones and are adjacent to those ducts) and in the prostate.

In the kidneys, the receptor is highly expressed in the epithelial cells of the renal tubule, which probably explains why some people with severe cases of COVID-19 have been developing kidney damage.

Conversely, ovaries do not express much ACE2, the Bronx-Mumbai study explains.

So it seems plausible that men are clearing the virus more slowly than women because they have an extra reservoir that women do not possess. It must be stressed that this has not been proven. But it is consistent with this hypothesis that gonadal loss-of-function has been reported in SARS-CoV-2 patients, indicating damage to testicular cells - especially the ones producing hormones - during infection.

On exactly the same grounds - testicular and nephritic susceptibility to coronavirus - a comment published (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41585-020-0319-7)in Nature Reviews, Urology this week urges monitoring the urogenital tract of COVID-19 patients.

"Most patients with severe COVID-19 present with pneumonia-related symptoms, but some patients with severe disease could develop serious urinary complications including acute kidney injury," writes Shangqian Wang, Xiang Zhou, Tongtong Zhang and Zengjun Wang from the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University.

"Furthermore, male reproductive systems are vulnerable to infection; dramatic changes in sex hormones in patients with COVID-19 have been observed, suggesting gonadal function impairment," the team writes.Which is a euphemism for infertility.

The changes in the sex hormones are a side effect of inflammation resulting from the immune system fighting the virus, the paper explains: "Inflammatory cytokines that are locally or systematically produced by these cells can activate the autoimmune response, destroying the seminiferous epithelium, which leads to autoimmune orchitis [inflammation of the testicles]."

The team notes that SARS, a different coronavirus, could and did attack the testicles, inducing orchitis. The SARS virus was discovered in the outer cells of testicular seminiferous tubules and Leydig cells, which produce testosterone.

Now, SARS-CoV-2 isn't the same as SARS-CoV. But both viruses have receptors in the testicles. So while COVID-19 chiefly attacks the respiratory system, doctors should watch out for urogenital complications, the team urges.

They also have a sobering word of advice for men who contracted COVID-19, recovered, and want children: "After recovery from COVID-19, young men who are interested in having children should receive a consultation regarding their fertility."

This seems to be one thing that China already knew. As early as mid-March, China Daily was warning (https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202003/ ... 7f4b1.html) men who recovered from COVID-19 to have their fertility tested. (It's worth mentioning that a steady diet (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/0 ... tern-junk/) of junk food or keeping a smartphone (https://www.haaretz.com/science-and-hea ... -1.5401638) next to boys may have similar effects.)

The authors of the study published (https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 66v1?rss=1) in MedRxiv are Aditi Shastri, Justin Wheat, Kith Pradhan, Mendel Goldfinger, Noah Kornblum, Ulrich Steidl, and Amit Verma from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine with Sachee Agra

wal, Nirjhar Chaterjee and Aditi's mother Jayanthi Shast

ri from

the Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Mumbai.

https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.pre ... navirus-be

cause-of-their-testicles-1.8793492

The MedRxiv article:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 1.full.pdf

So all those spring breakers that disregarded the warnings and partied on the beaches may have just taken themselves out of the gene pool? LOLOL

[Supranatural (imported)]

They also have a sobering word of advice for men who contracted COVID-19, recovered, and want children: "After recovery from COVID-19, young men who are interested in having children should receive a consultation r

egarding their fertility."

This doesn't help China's already lowering Total Fertility Rate/Birth Rate. Though, it doesn't help ours in the Western world either. I am curious as to what long lasting effect it has on such numbers.

[Supranatural (imported)]

There are disadvantages of eunuchs as well, we should be aware that low T increases risk of aterosclerosis and diabetes. Altgough this can be reduced with more physical activity. So a physicalky active eunuch should have longest lifespan.

This reminds me that I need to try to get some exercise done, despite these trying times.

[cutnbulls2ox (imported)]

So all those spring breakers that disregarded the warnings and partied on the beaches may have just taken themselves out of the gene pool? LOLOL

Now you can be a sperm donor for all those newly infertile men. There will be more demand than ever for fertile young men to step forward to help out their sterilized countrymen.

[Evolve]

Shifting back to the original topic of this thread:

All of the regulars here are aware that eunuchs castrated before puberty lived an average of 15 years longer than comparable uncastrated men. The difference in life expectancy decreases with increasing age of castration, with those castrated after 40 only gaining an average of about 4 years. While there can be no controlled experiment to study the issue, there has been medical speculation about the reasons and one that keeps coming up in the literature is that lower testosterone reduces inflammation and increases resistance to infection. The hijra in India seem to have some resistance to TB, which may be a result of their castration. There was even at least one experiment where men who had experienced serious physical injury were put on temporary chemical castration to see if it would improve healing. It did, however the psychological trauma of even temporary castration was so great that the experiment was not continued. Some now think that the "cytokine storm" caused by some viruses, in which the body's immune system overreacts is a significant cause of death for Covid-19 patients. To what extent does lower testosterone help to prevent it? The question is already being asked of prostate cancer patients who are on "androgen deprivation therapy" (castration, either chemical or surgical).

This is yet another reason I'm glad and thankful I got my orchiectomy before the shutdown- I had the procedure March 7th(3 days before Michigan's first reported COVID case) - I think I'm the last client Dr. Arnkoff had.

My one and only regret is that I didn't have this done years sooner. However, it's a stroke of luck I that I made it by the skin of my teeth in getting this done before the shutdown/stay at home order started.