A coronavirus patient in the US suffered a painful three-hour erection due to a rare complication of the disease.
Doctors believe COVID-19 can cause blood to clot in the penis, according to a report published by the American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
Priapism is a condition that causes a long and sometimes painful erection of the penis. It often lasts more than four hours but isn't caused by sexual stimulation.
An unidentified 69-year-old man was admitted to the Miami Valley Hospital in August last year where he tested positive for COVID-19.
The patient, who was obese, was put on a ventilator where his condition deteriorated and lungs started to fail.
After 10 days, the man was turned face-down for 12 hours - an emergency technique to help get air around the body.
When medics turned him face-up again, the nurses noticed he had developed an erection.
The team put ice packs on the area to try and bring the erection down but it lasted over three hours.
In response, 21-gauge needles were placed along his penis shaft to drain blood from his penis and with the help of a medical injection, his erection eased after 30 minutes.
This is not the first case of priapism in a patient with COVID-19.
In June 2020, a 62-year-old who had contracted the virus experienced a four-hour erection believed to be caused by blood clots.
