People recovered from COVID-19 are known to have several complications such as heart and lung problems. Well, does Covid 19 impair fertility? This may worry a few but a new research showed that SARS COV-2 had its impact on male fertility,
The researchers found traces of the virus in male reproductive organ. Firuza Parikh and Rajesh Parikh at Jaslok Hospital, Sanjeeva Srivastava at the Indian Institute of Technology and colleagues did the study,
THE STUDY
The researchers analyzed semen samples from 10 healthy men and 17 men who had recently recovered from COVID-19. None of the men, who ranged in age from 20 to 45, had a prior history of infertility. They found that the recovered men had significantly reduced sperm count and motility, and fewer normally shaped sperm, than men who did not have COVID 19.
The researchers noted that even mild or moderate illness could change the levels of proteins related to male reproductive function.
With respect to semen proteins, they found 27 proteins at higher levels and 21 proteins at lower levels in COVID-19-recovered men compared with the control group. Many of the proteins were involved in reproductive function. Two of the fertility related proteins, semenogelin 1 and prosaposin, were present at less than half their levels in the semen of the COVID 19 recovered group than in the semen of controls. These findings suggest that SARS COV-2 has direct or indirect effects on male reproductive health that linger after recovery, the researchers say.
