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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Trop. Dis.
Sec. Major Tropical Diseases
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fitd.2024.1489647

Screening semen samples for Zika virus infection: Role for serologic and RT-PCR testing

Provisionally accepted
Humberto Ferraz Oliveira Humberto Ferraz Oliveira 1,2*Kevan Akrami Kevan Akrami 3Laise de Moraes Laise de Moraes 4Lais Gusmao Lais Gusmao 4Genevieve Coelho Genevieve Coelho 5Daniele Freitas Daniele Freitas 5,6Manoel Barral-Netto Manoel Barral-Netto 4Aldina Barral Aldina Barral 4Viviane Boaventura Viviane Boaventura 1,4Luciane Amorim Santos Luciane Amorim Santos 4,6Ricardo Khouri Ricardo Khouri 1,4*
  • 1 Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Brazil
  • 2 Bahia State University, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
  • 3 University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, United States
  • 4 Gonçalo Moniz Institute (IGM), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
  • 5 Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidade (IVI), Salvador, Brazil
  • 6 Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Zika virus (ZIKV) is primarily transmitted through mosquito bites though may act as a sexually transmitted infection. Men can shed the virus in their semen for extended periods with reports of up to six months after initial infection. This poses a concern for couples planning pregnancy, whether through natural or assisted methods due to the risk of congenital Zika disease. Human reproductive clinics typically perform serologic tests to screen for Zika infection. In this study, we evaluated semen samples stored in a human reproduction clinic in Salvador, Brazil, during the Zika virus outbreak, using real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) technique. 36 sperm samples from 23 donors were analyzed, including 5 with positive IgG serology for ZIKV and all negative for IgM. Despite these serologic findings, all analyzed samples were negative by RT-qPCR ZIKV. Despite the limited number of samples, this study raises further concern that the use of serology may be an unreliable surrogate method to predict the presence of ZIKV in semen.

    Keywords: Zika virus, Semen, genital tract, screening, diagnosis

    Received: 02 Sep 2024; Accepted: 23 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Oliveira, Akrami, de Moraes, Gusmao, Coelho, Freitas, Barral-Netto, Barral, Boaventura, Santos and Khouri. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Humberto Ferraz Oliveira, Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Brazil
    Ricardo Khouri, Gonçalo Moniz Institute (IGM), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.