Researchers have found evidence to suggest that men who contract COVID-19 coronavirus may suffer from reduced fertility – due to damaged sperm, according to a new study published in the journal Reproduction.
COVID-19 may reduce men’s ability to reproduce
COVID-19 disease can kill sperm and inflammation of the testicles, which can impair sperm production and reduce men’s ability to conceive children.
“These effects on sperm cells are associated with lower sperm quality and low fertility potential,” said Behzad Hajizadeh Maleki, a doctoral student at Leipzig University of Justice in Germany. MedicalXpress reports. Although these effects tended to improve over time, they remained significantly and abnormally higher in patients with COVID-19, and the magnitude of these changes were also related to the severity of the disease.
Men can contract the virus through direct viral invasion during sexual encounters, after which the virus begins to alter the reproductive processes needed to maintain sexual characteristics, according to the study. Once this has happened, “a secondary inflammatory response induced by the viral infection” can occur in the testicles, and the nominal response of the fever to the infection also interferes with healthy reproductive physiology.
The male reproductive system should be considered a “high risk” organ
“The above mechanisms often coexist and have a synergistic effect on mediating impairment,” the new study shows.
These recent findings contribute to the ongoing study of the effects of COVID-19 and show us that men recovering from COVID-19 may have a difficult time conceiving children – from abnormally low sperm quality. Consequently, health professionals should continuously monitor and analyze the reproductive functions of men after a coronavirus infection – so that future reproductive problems could be avoided.
“The results of this study also suggest that the male reproductive system should be considered a vulnerable pathway to COVID-19 infection and should be declared a high-risk organ by the World Health Organization,” Maleki added. MedicalXpress reports.
Men became more interested in the cryogenic freezing of sperm
There are more studies needed to validate the findings of this study – and to specify exactly how COVID-19 affects male fertility and reproduction. But even this ambiguity adds to a series of pandemic studies that suggest a real danger to men’s reproductive abilities after recovering from the virus.
Although we do not know when more concrete answers will emerge, there is a path around low fertility that many men have already turned to.
In April last year, business grew for companies that send men sperm collection kits that can be stored with return postage – with which men can cryogenically store viable human seeds for later use.
Men may soon have options to withstand the effects of COVID-19
It’s sad to see, but biologically, it seems that men suffer worse fates than women because of the biological effects of COVID-19, according to a post on the Johns Hopkins University blog.
“Around the world, on every continent, we see that men are much more likely to be hospitalized with severe COVID-19, and men are also more likely to die from COVID-19,” said Sabra Klein. biologist Johns Hopkins in the blog post.
The future may look bleak for men – who are more likely than women to be hospitalized, die and be left less fertile due to a severe COVID-19 infection. But with scientists beginning to understand how the virus affects male reproductive systems and vaccines circulating globally, we can finally say that men could soon have viable options to preserve their lives and those of the next generation.