Researchers have found evidence that men who contract the COVID-19 coronavirus may have less fertility – from damaged sperm cells, according to a new study published in the journal. Reproduction.
COVID-19 may reduce the ability of men to reproduce
COVID-19 disease can kill sperm and infect testicles, which can damage sperm production and reduce the ability of men to conceive children.
“These effects on sperm cells are associated with lower sperm quality and reduced fertility potential,” says Behzad Hajizadeh Maleki – a doctoral student at Justice Leipzig University in Germany. MedicalXpress reports. “Although these effects tended to improve over time, they remained significantly and abnormally higher in the COVID-19 patients, and the extent of these changes was also related to the severity of the disease.”
Men can contract the virus through direct viral invasion during sexual encounters, after which the virus alters the reproductive processes needed to maintain sexual characteristics, according to the study. Once this has occurred, a ‘secondary virus infection-induced inflammatory response’ may occur in the testes, and the nominal fever response to infection also disturbs the healthy reproductive physiology.
Men’s reproductive system should be considered a high-risk organ
“The above mechanisms often coexist and have a synergistic effect on the mediation of disabilities,” reads the new study.
These recent findings contribute to the ongoing study of COVID-19’s effects, and show us that men who recover from COVID-19 can have difficulty conceiving children – of abnormally low sperm quality. Consequently, health professionals must constantly monitor and analyze the reproductive functions of men following a coronavirus infection – so reproductive problems can be avoided in the future.
“The results of this study also suggest that the male reproductive system should be considered a vulnerable route of COVID-19 infection and should be declared a high-risk organ by the World Health Organization,” Maleki added. MedicalXpress reports.
Men had greater interest in cryogenic freezing of sperm
More extensive studies are needed to validate the conclusions of this study – and specify exactly how COVID-19 affects fertility and reproduction in men. But this ambiguity contributes to a pandemic series of studies that point to a real danger to male reproductive capacity after recovering from the virus.
Although we do not know when more concrete answers will appear, there is a way to reduced fertility to which many men have already turned.
As of April last year, business has increased for businesses that send men who return storable sperm specimens with return money, which allows men to store viable human semen cryogenically for later use.
Men may soon have options to resist COVID-19 effects
It’s sad to see, but on a biological level, men seem to be suffering worse than women because of the biological consequences of COVID-19, according to a Johns Hopkins University blog post.
“All over the world, on every continent, we see that men are likely to be hospitalized with severe COVID-19, and that men are also stronger on COVID-19,” Johns Hopkins biologist Sabra Klein told 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 as a result of a serious COVID-19 infection. But with scientists beginning to understand how the virus affects male reproductive systems, and vaccines circulating worldwide, we can finally say that men will soon have viable options to preserve their lives and the next generation.