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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 29): Men infected by Covid-19 may experience damaged sperm quality and reduced fertility, AFP reported today based on a study that was published 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," said the study.
Earlier studies have actually shown the disease can also “infect male reproductive organs, impairing sperm cell development and disrupting reproductive hormones”, with the “same receptors the virus uses to access lung tissue are also found in the testicles”.
AFP reported that Behzad Hajizadeh Maleki and Bakhtyar Tartibian of Justus-Liebig-University, Germany attempted to look “for biological markers that might indicate a negative impact on fertility”.
It was shown that sperm cells in Covid-19 patients “showed a significant increase in markers of inflammation and oxidative stress, a chemical imbalance that can damage DNA and proteins in the body”.
"These effects on sperm cells are associated with lower sperm quality and reduced fertility potential," said Maleki.
"Although these effects tended to improve over time, they remained significantly and abnormally higher in the COVID-19 patients," Maleki added.
Meanwhile, other experts stated more studies were “needed before drawing hard and fast conclusions”.
"Men should not be unduly alarmed. There is currently no definitive evidence of long-lasting damage caused by COVID-19, to sperm or male reproductive potential," Alison Campbell, director of embryology of the CARE Fertility Group in Britain told the London-based Science Media Centre.
She explained that “results could have been skewed” as COVID-19 male patients were “treated with corticosteroids and antiviral therapies, while the control group was not”.
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