You’ll Never Guess What Researchers Found Living In Semen

Learn how to keep your vagina happy and healthy:

“Detection means that evidence of viral genetic material or viral protein was found in semen,” lead researcher Alex Salam told WebMD. “It’s important to note that this does not mean that the virus is viable, i.e., capable of replicating. To prove this, the virus needs to be isolated and grown in cells or animals. For many of the viruses, this test has not been done, so we don’t know whether virus is viable or not.”

RELATED: Scary! This STD Is Becoming Impossible To Treat

One of the reasons viruses remain in the semen for so long is that the testicles have something Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease doctor at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, who spoke to NPR, calls “privilege” (the actual scientific name for it!).

RELATED: 5 Skin Conditions You Can Get on Your Vagina

“That means the immune system doesn’t police the testicles as well as other organs,” he says. “So the testes kind of serve as this sanctuary site where viruses can kind of steer clear of the immune system.”