2023-06-27 11:20:03
by Laura Cuppini
This is confirmed by a Spanish study, but any repercussions on fertility are still to be clarified. Half of the patients had a 57% lower sperm count after infection
Sars-CoV-2 infection could damage male fertility, even in the long term. what emerges from a Spanish study presented at the annual Congress of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (Ashre), underway in Copenhagen (Denmark).
Survey numbers
Between February 2020 and October 2022, the researchers enrolled 45 men (average age 31) at six Spanish reproductive clinics. All had a confirmed diagnosis of mild Covid and the Centers had sperm samples collected before infection; another sample was taken between 17 and 516 days after infection. The comparison resulted in a statistically significant difference in semen volume (-20%, from 2.5 to 2 milliliters), sperm concentration (-26.5%, from 68 to 50 million per ml), sperm count ( -37.5%, from 160 to 100 million/ml), in total motility (-9.1%, from 49% to 45%) and in the share of live sperm (-5%, from 80% to 76% ). After the Covid met of the patients had a 57% lower sperm count than before the infection. Not only that: after a hundred days of infection (over three months) concentration and mobility had not improved.
The duration of the damage
Therefore Covid, even if contracted in a mild form, seems to worsen sperm quality in the long term, although any repercussions on fertility are still to be clarified. Starting from previous works that had demonstrated how the quality of male semen appears compromised in the short term after a Covid infection, Rocio Nez-Calonge, scientific consultant of the Ur International Group at the Scientific Reproduction Unit in Madrid, wanted to investigate the duration of harm. Given that it takes about 78 days to produce new sperm, it seemed appropriate to evaluate its quality at least three months after recovery from Covid – explained the expert -. Our guess was that it would get better, but it didn’t. We do not know how long it might take to restore pre-infection sperm quality and permanent damage cannot be ruled out even in men who have had a mild form of Covid.
Hormone levels
Nez-Calonge specified that the impairment of sperm quality may not be due to a direct effect of Sars-CoV-2. it is probable that further factors, currently unknown, contribute to the worsening of these parameters in the long term – she explained -. We did not measure hormone levels in this study: intense variations in testosterone, a key player in male reproductive health, have previously been reported in patients with Covid infection. Of particular interest to Nez-Calonge is the fact that this decline in sperm quality occurs in patients with mild infection, which means that SARS-CoV-2 could affect male fertility even in the absence of clinical symptoms of the disease. The Spanish team will continue to monitor patients over time, assessing both semen quality and hormonal status. Research shows the importance of long-term follow-up of patients’ fertility after a Covid infection, even a mild one — commented Eshre President Carlos Calhaz-Jorge, Northern Lisbon Hospital Center and Hospital de Santa Mary of Lisbon in Portugal —. However, it is important to note that the quality of the sperm in these patients after infection still falls within the normality criteria defined by the World Health Organization. Therefore, it is not clear whether this reduction in sperm quality translates into reduced fertility. There should be the subject of further research.
Fatal problem
Recently, the Italian Society of Andrology launched an alert on the risk that the loss of male fertility could become an irreversible problem for the human species: in the worst case scenario, in 2070 men may no longer be able to bear children. The main problems are the increase in the age of conception and sexual abstinence as an increasingly widespread habit among young people (it is estimated that there are over 1.6 million between the ages of 18-40 who only have virtual sex). Added to these reasons are pollution and exposure to toxic substances, a mix of conditions capable of seriously impacting the quality and quantity of sperm.
June 27, 2023 (change June 27, 2023 | 11:19 am)
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