COVID-19 infection can reduce fertility in men

COVID-19 can negatively affect sperm quality and reduce fertility in men, according to research published in Reproduction. The study indicates that infection with COVID-19 can lead to increased sperm death, inflammation, and oxidative stress, leading to lower sperm quality and potentially reduced fertility. These results provide the first direct experimental evidence that the male reproductive system could be targeted and damaged by COVID-19, and suggest that male reproductive function should be assessed after infection to detect and avoid further fertility problems.

COVID-19 is a coronavirus that causes respiratory illnesses and in older people, or those with particular underlying medical conditions, infection can be serious and even lead to death. The World Health Organization announced a global pandemic of the virus on March 11, 2020. The disease is mainly transmitted by respiratory droplets which infect the lungs, kidneys, intestines and heart, however, other studies have also shown to infect male reproductive organs, impairing sperm development and disrupting reproductive hormones. These results suggest that the male reproductive system is potentially vulnerable to infection with COVID-19, but the effects of the virus on male reproductive function are unclear.

PhD Student and Principal Investigator Behzad Hajizadeh Maleki and his team at Justus-Liebig University studied the effect of COVID-19 infection on male fertility by evaluating markers of inflammation, oxidative stress, sperm death and semen quality. Analysis was performed at 10-day intervals for a 60-day follow-up period, in 84 men with confirmed COVID-19 and 105 healthy controls of the same age. An expert in urology determined that all of the men were fertile. In men with COVID-19, markers of inflammation and oxidative stress in sperm were significantly increased by over 100% compared to healthy controls of the same age, pathways facilitating sperm death were activated and the sperm concentration was reduced by 516%, the mobility by 209% and the sperm shape was changed by 400%. This condition represents oligoasthenoteratozoospermia, which is one of the most common causes of subfertility in humans.

“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 extent of these changes was also linked to the disease severity, ”comments Behzad Hajizadeh Maleki.

These new findings add to our current understanding of the disease and reveal that men who recover from COVID-19 may have a harder time conceiving, due to abnormally low sperm quality. This suggests that reproductive function should be monitored and evaluated by healthcare professionals after infection, to detect and avoid more serious reproductive problems in the future.

Behzad Hajizadeh Maleki adds, “The results of this study also suggest that the male reproductive system should be considered a vulnerable pathway for COVID-19 infection and should be declared a high-risk organ by the World Health Organization. “

Further studies, with longer follow-up, are needed to validate the conclusions drawn from this study and determine exactly how COVID-19 affects reproduction and fertility in men.

Provided by Bioscientifica