Covid may lower male fertility

EXPERTS: STUDY ‘INTERESTING, BUT THEORY UNPROVEN’

Same receptors virus uses in the lungs are also found in testicles.

Paris

Covid-19 may damage sperm quality and reduce fertility in men, according to a new study based on experimental evidence. The disease which has swept the globe, claiming nearly 2.2 million lives, can cause increased sperm cell death, inflammation and so-called oxidative stress, researchers reported in the journal, Reproduction.

“These findings provide the first direct experimental evidence that the male reproductive system could be targeted and damaged by Covid-19,” they said.

Experts commenting on the research, however, said the capacity of the virus to compromise fertility in men remains unproven.

Transmitted through respiratory droplets, the disease attacks the lungs, kidneys, intestines and heart.

It can infect male reproductive organs, impairing sperm cell development and disrupting reproductive hormones, earlier studies have shown. The same receptors the virus uses to access lung tissue are also found in the testicles.

But the coronavirus’ effects on the ability of men to reproduce remained unclear.

Behzad Hajizadeh Maleki and Bakhtyar Tartibian from Justus-Liebig University in Germany searched for biological markers that might impact fertility.

Analysis done at 10-day intervals for 60 days in 84 men with Covid-19 was compared to data for 105 healthy men.

In the Covid-19 patients, sperm cells showed a significant increase in markers of inflammation and oxidative stress, a chemical imbalance that can damage DNA and proteins in the body.

Maleki said in a statement. “Although these effects tended to improve over time, they remained significantly and abnormally higher in the Covid-19 patients.”

The more severe the disease, the bigger the changes, he added.

The male reproductive system “should be considered a vulnerable route of Covid-19 infection and declared a high-risk organ by the World Health Organisation”.

Experts not involved in the study welcomed the research, but cautioned that more was needed before drawing conclusions.

“Men should not be unduly alarmed,” noted Alison Campbell, director of embryology of the Care Fertility Group in Britain.

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