Coronavirus negatively affects the sperm quality, count, and motility months after recovering from the infection, a recently published study carried out by Belgian researchers has revealed.
The researchers enrolled 120 Belgian men who had recovered from symptomatic COVID-19 infection for the study and analyzed their sperm samples.
Belgian researchers found that sperm motility reduced in 60% of men who had submitted their samples less than one month after recovering from the infection, 37% in men who had submitted their samples two months later, and 28% in men who had submitted their samples more than two months later.
The sperm count decreased in 37% of men who had submitted their samples less than one month after recovering from the infection, 29% in men who submitted their samples two months later, and 6% in men who had submitted their samples more than two months later.
In addition, high levels of anti-sperm antibodies, which fight against sperms in blood and semen, were found in 2.5% of men.
Belgian researchers concluded that there wasn’t any link between the severity of COVID-19 infection and impaired sperm characteristics while the semen itself wasn’t infected with SARS-COV-2, the Coronavirus which causes the COVID-19 disease.
Speaking in this regard, Gilbert Donders, the study’s lead investigator and the head of the department of obstetrics and gynecology, Regional Hospital Heilig Hart, Tienen, Belgium, warned couples desiring pregnancy that sperm quality remains degraded for months after recovering from Coronavirus.
The sperm quality is expected to improve three months after recovering from COVID-19, noted Gilbert, adding that more research is needed to confirm this and to determine whether the infection causes permanent damage to sperms.
