COVID Can Reduce Sperm Quality For Months – A New Study Claims

A new study done by a group of researchers in Belgium suggests, “After COVID-19, sperm count and motility may be low for months”. The research was carried out on 120 individuals. The research showed that the semen itself is “not infectious“; therefore, covid 19 cannot be transmitted through sexual intercourse, but the infection heavily impacted the semen’s quality. The study was published on Monday in the Fertility and Sterility journal.

The study warns: “Couples with a desire of pregnancy should be warned that sperm quality after COVID infection can be suboptimal.”

The research, which still hasn’t been peer-reviewed, suggests that it might take three months for sperm count in semen to come back to normal. Scientists are still working to determine if damage to sperm count could be permanent in a small minority of men.

Semen samples of 35 men who recovered from covid were collected within a month of their recovery. There was a 60 percent drop in their sperm’s ability to move and a 37 percent reduction in sperm count.

The study took samples from 120 men in Belgium with an average age of 35 years and at an average of 52 days after their COVID-19 symptoms had cleared.

The study also suggests that the sperm quality increased as time since recovery from covid 19 increased.

Studies find sperm quality impaired months after recovery from COVID.
35 men, one month after recovery: reduction in sperm motility: 60%; low sperm count: 37%
51 men, one to two months after recovery; reduction in sperm motility: 37%; low sperm count: 29%https://t.co/hdmlzcpxmq

— Amy Diehl, Ph.D. (@amydiehl) December 21, 2021

The researchers found: “Sperm quality parameters were most severely damaged when assessed during the first month.” Damage was, therefore, “less pronounced” after the first month and “almost normal” after two months.

Samples from 51 patients taken between one and two months after recovery showed 37 percent had reduced sperm motility and 29 percent had low sperm counts, falling further to 28 percent and 6 percent after at least two months had passed.

Patients who were hospitalized with severe symptoms and who recovered at home with mild symptoms didn’t show any difference in sperm quality. 

The researchers said they “found no differences” in the sperm quality of those who were hospitalized with the virus and those who stayed at home with milder symptoms. They also said that they had found “strong evidence” that COVID-19 could not be sexually transmitted through semen after a person had recovered from illness.