A man has died from coronavirus after suffering a three-hour erection caused by the disease, a study claims.
The Covid patient, from Ohio, US, was placed on a ventilator in Miami Valley Hospital in August last year after catching the disease.
Doctors left the 69-year-old on his stomach for 12 hours in a bid to help him breathe but when they turned him back over he had an erection, the study said.
They tried to reduce the swelling with an ice pack but this was unsuccessful, doctos said in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
After three hours they were forced to drain the blood from his penis with a needle.
He was diagnosed with the condition low-flow priapism, which is when blood becomes trapped in the phallus.
Although his erection disappeared, the man lost his life in intensive care after his lungs stopped working.
Medics believe the priapism was caused by a blood clot, which is known to be a complication of coronavirus.
Birmingham urological surgeon Dr Richard Viney told Mail Online: "We haven’t seen any cases of Covid-related priapism like this, and we have dealt with more Covid patients than any other European hospital as far as I’m aware, so this is clearly a rare but explainable manifestation of Covid."
It comes after a 62-year-old man in France suffered priapism while being treated for severe coronavirus.
Medics again found blood clots in his penis and had to use a needle to reduce the erection.
They discovered 'dark blood clots' which they believe were caused by Covid-related thrombosis.
