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“This report provides the first direct evidence to date that COVID-19 infection impairs sperm quality and male reproductive potential,” the study said.
However, experts not involved in the study were immediately skeptical of the report’s conclusion and urged caution in over-generalizing the research findings.
“I have to raise a strong caveat in their interpretation of this data. For example, the authors state that their data demonstrate that ‘infection with COVID-19 causes significant alterations in male reproductive function’ but this does not show in makes that an association, “Allan Pacey, professor of andrology at the University of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, UK, said by email.
“Being sick with a virus such as the flu can temporarily drop your sperm count (sometimes to zero) for a few weeks or months. This makes it difficult to determine to what extent the reductions seen in this study were rather specific to COVID-19. than just being sick, ”said Dr Channa Jayasena, a consultant in reproductive endocrinology and andrology at Imperial College London, in an email.
In addition, “it is important to note that there is no evidence of the Covid-19 virus in semen and that there is no evidence that the virus can be transmitted through semen,” Alison said. Murdoch, who runs the Newcastle Fertility Center at the International Center. for Life, University of Newcastle, UK, by email.
Small study of 84 men
The study compared 105 fertile men without Covid-19 to 84 fertile men diagnosed with the coronavirus and analyzed their sperm at 10-day intervals for 60 days.
Compared to healthy men without Covid-19, the study found a significant increase in inflammation and oxidative stress in sperm belonging to men with Covid-19. Their concentration, mobility and sperm shape were also negatively affected by the virus.
The differences increased with the severity of the disease, according to the study.
“These effects on sperm are associated with inferior sperm quality and reduced fertility potential. Although these effects tended to improve over time, they remained significantly and abnormally higher in patients with COVID-19, and the magnitude of those changes was also linked to the disease severity, ”lead researcher Behzad Hajizadeh Maleki, a doctoral student at Justus Liebig Giessen University, Hesse, Germany, said in a statement. .
There were also much higher levels of ACE2 enzyme activity in men with Covid, according to the study. ACE2, or angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, is the protein that provides the entry point for the novel coronavirus to attach to and infect a wide variety of human cells.
However, it’s no surprise that Covid-19 can impact the male reproductive system, as ACE2 receptors, or the “same receptors the virus uses to access lung tissue, are also found in the testes.” said Pacey, who is also editor-in-chief of the journal Human Fertility.
A permanent concern
“Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been understandable (but theoretical) concern about whether this coronavirus could adversely impact the fertility of men who are infected,” Pacey said.
After reviewing some 14 published studies on the subject, Pacey said he concluded that “any measurable effect of coronavirus on male fertility is likely only mild and temporary.”
The results of this study, he added, could be due to other factors, such as the use of drugs to treat the virus, which the authors also acknowledged in the study.
“Therefore, all I see in this dataset is the possible differences in semen quality between men with febrile illness (fever) and those who were doing well. We already know that a febrile illness can impact sperm production, whatever the cause, ”Pacey said.
Sheena Lewis, Professor Emeritus at Queen’s University Belfast in Ireland, shared similar thoughts via email: “I am concerned that men with COVID will have significantly higher body weights and are undergoing a number of therapeutic treatments.
“We know that obesity alone reduces the quality of sperm. COVID treatments may also have affected the quality of these men’s sperm, rather than COVID itself,” Lewis said.
“Thus, longer-term studies are needed before the testes are considered a specific high-risk organ for Covid-19,” said Murdoch from Newcastle.
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