Getting infected with Sars-CoV-2 could affect the male fertility for weeks after the virus negativization. This was recently explained by a new study that investigated the quality of spermatozoa in a group of Belgian patients who developed a symptomatic form of Covid-19.
Specifically, the survey published in the specialized journal Fertility and Sterility analyzed samples from 120 men with an average age of 35 at various times after recovery. What came out of it? That samples of 35 of these people showed one 60% reduction in sperm motility one month after healing e a numerical decrease of 37%.
Fortunately it appears to be one transitory condition: As the days after the symptoms subsided, the quality of the sperm returned to increase. Samples taken from 51 patients between one and two months after healing showed only a 37% reduction in motility and 29% in quantity. Percentages dropped to 28% and 6% respectively two full months after the end of symptoms related to Covid-19. According to the researchers, however, further studies are needed to establish the long-term impacts of the disease on fertility. In the meantime, however, the investigation makes it clear that “couples seeking pregnancy should be aware that sperm quality after infection may not be optimal».
The final recovery term would seem to settle on three months after healing, but other investigations are needed to confirm this time window and to determine if problems may persist, perhaps in a small portion of males. The interesting thing is that people who have overcome more severe forms of Covid-19 don’t seem to have suffered this kind of reduction in a more pronounced way. In short, scholars do not seem to have detected differences between those who have been hospitalized and those who have overcome Covid at home, keeping an eye on symptoms of medium entity.
In fact, some viruses, such as influenza, are known for their ability to damage the quality and quantity of spermatozoa. In the case of the flu due to high fever. In that of Covid-19, however, the researchers of the Genk Institute for Fertility Technology they found no link between the presence and severity of fever and the quality of seminal fluid. The hypothesis is that, as in many other consequences related to the so-called long Covid, these developments are to be linked to immune response of the organism to the pathogen. Tests appear to have shown that higher concentrations of Covid-19 specific antibodies in patients’ blood serum were strongly correlated with reduced sperm function.
On the other hand, no trace of the RNA of the virus was ever detected in the sperm of the volunteers even if this reduction in the quality and quantity of the seminal fluid could suggest that the virus is able to overcome the blood-testicular barrier, a structure present in the tubules. seminiferous which prevents the passage of molecules between the basal and the adluminal compartment, a necessary condition for the normal functioning of the male genital system.
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