Men who have recovered from COVID-19 are at risk of developing low sperm count, at least in the short-term, a small new study suggests.
The study researchers, from the University of Florence in Italy, analyzed semen samples from 43 men ages 30 to 65 about one month after they had recovered from COVID-19. They found that 25% of the men had low sperm count, and nearly 20% had azoospermia, or the total absence of sperm in semen. That’s much higher than the prevalence of azoospermia in the general population worldwide, which is around 1%, according to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
There’s reason to think that SARS-CoV-2 could affect sperm production. Testicular cells have high levels of the ACE2 receptor, which allows SARS-CoV-2 to get inside cells, the authors said.
However, only a handful of studies have looked for SARS-CoV-2 in semen from men who tested positive for the virus; those studies found the coronavirus in semen from some, but not all, of the men during infection or recovery.
There is a possibility that COVID-19 may negatively affect sperm quality and reduce fertility in men, and the magnitude of that effect may depend on the severity of disease, researchers reported.
