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COVID-19 reduces fertility in men, study suggests
Healio ^ | Jan 2021 | Janell Miller

Posted on 04/13/2021 9:35:32 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege

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.

“Little is known about the virus-host interaction of COVID-19 in sperm cells,” Behzad Hajizadeh Maleki, a doctoral student and research assistant in the department of psychology and sports science at Justus Liebig University in Germany, and Bakhtyar Tartibian, PhD, of the physical education and sports science department at Urmia University in Iran, wrote in in the journal Reproduction.

“We are the first to address the connection between changes in multiple seminal biomarkers and reproductive function in male patients recovering from COVID-19,” they said.

Hajizadeh Malekiand Tartibian conducted a prospective, longitudinal cohort study of 84 men with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and 105 men without the disease in Iran. The researchers analyzed changes in angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) activity, markers of inflammation and oxidative stress, apoptotic variables and semen quality, all of which were evaluated at 10-day intervals for up to 60 days.

Most of the men in the study were in their 30s and “differed substantially” in body weight, body fat percent and BMI, according to the researchers. Among those with COVID-19, all but one had either a moderate, severe or critical form of the disease. A urology expert confirmed that all the men were fertile in the study. Men with COVID-19 were treated with corticosteroids and/or antiviral therapies.

The researchers reported that at baseline and during subsequent follow-ups, the COVID-19 group showed significantly higher levels of seminal plasma ACE2 enzyme, as well as higher levels of both pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in sperm — including interleukin (IL) 1-beta, IL-6, IL8, IL-10, transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interferons alpha and gamma. They also had higher levels of reactive oxygen species and lower superoxide dismutase activity compared with healthy controls.

The markers of inflammation and oxidative stress in sperm cells of men with COVID-19 were increased by more than 100% compared with controls, according to the researchers. Sperm concentration was reduced by 516%, mobility by 209% and sperm cell shape was altered by 400%.

Although these effects tended to improve over time — representing “a transient state of male subfertility like those with oligoasthenoteratozoospermia” — the researchers wrote they remained “significantly and abnormally higher in the COVID-19 patients, and the magnitude of these changes were also related to disease severity.”

In an interview with Healio Primary Care, Hajizadeh Maleki recommended that couples who want to have children should proceed with caution.

“Female partners of men recovering from the disease should decide not to conceive until a specialist carefully examines and certifies their fertility status,” he said.


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: conception; covid; fertility; pregnancy; sperm; testosterone
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1 posted on 04/13/2021 9:35:32 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

2 posted on 04/13/2021 9:36:22 AM PDT by Seruzawa (The political Left is the Garden of Eden of Incompetence - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Well, it must be working, then.


3 posted on 04/13/2021 9:37:16 AM PDT by The Antiyuppie (When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Bill Gates is ecstatic.


4 posted on 04/13/2021 9:37:35 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Even more fake science and nonsense from far left, agenda driven “scientists”? You bet.


5 posted on 04/13/2021 9:38:04 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
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To: CondoleezzaProtege
Most of the men in the study were in their 30s and "differed substantially" in body weight, body fat percent and BMI, according to the researchers.

Differed? From WHAT? From EACH OTHER? Or from the norm?

Regards,

6 posted on 04/13/2021 9:41:13 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: SmokingJoe

There have been stories like this posted on FR how climate change will do the same thing, i.e lower fertility.

Same fear mongering garbage.


7 posted on 04/13/2021 9:42:16 AM PDT by BiglyCommentary
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

this was a purposeful virus....


8 posted on 04/13/2021 9:43:02 AM PDT by cherry (we are the Remnant)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

And what does the vaccine do to us, long term? No one can answer that.


9 posted on 04/13/2021 9:45:45 AM PDT by subterfuge (RIP T.P.)
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To: BiglyCommentary

LOWER FERTILITY
Same fear mongering garbage.

Ask the young Kenyan children who were forced to take W.H.O. vaccinations and are now sterile.


10 posted on 04/13/2021 9:46:29 AM PDT by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. (Psalm A33:12))
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

The study is flawed. Low sperm count contributes to someone wearing a mask.


11 posted on 04/13/2021 9:46:40 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Snidely Whiplash says...”you don’t say!”


12 posted on 04/13/2021 9:47:11 AM PDT by RckyRaCoCo (Please Pray For My Brother Ken.)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Have they done enough study to see what the vaccine does to fertility. Doesn’t the vaccine give you a small amount of the covid virus so your body can build antibodies to it.


13 posted on 04/13/2021 9:47:26 AM PDT by glimmerman70
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

How does the vaccine affect fertility?


14 posted on 04/13/2021 9:47:51 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Per Iran and Germany...

Whoakaaaaay....


15 posted on 04/13/2021 9:50:36 AM PDT by mewzilla (Those aren't masks. They're muzzles. )
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Covid Virility?


16 posted on 04/13/2021 9:57:41 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (They intend to murder us. Prep if you want to live and live like you are prepping for eternal life)
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

“Female partners of men recovering from the disease should decide not to conceive until a specialist carefully examines and certifies their fertility status”

This makes NO sense. Is their recovered-covid-sperm dangerous? Or should the female trying to conceive bed someone else?!?!


17 posted on 04/13/2021 9:59:53 AM PDT by ReaganGeneration2
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To: CondoleezzaProtege

Well darn, I was going to talk my wife into one more child before she turns 65


18 posted on 04/13/2021 10:01:28 AM PDT by AppyPappy (How many fingers am I holding up, Winston? )
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To: alexander_busek

Hmmmm.... I wonder how they were able to measure the ability to reproduce in the lard butts?

Based on real world observation, fat dudes don’t really get the CHANCE to be fertile all that often...


19 posted on 04/13/2021 10:03:53 AM PDT by L,TOWM (An upraised middle finger is my virtue signal.)
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To: glimmerman70

glimmerman70 wrote: “Doesn’t the vaccine give you a small amount of the covid virus so your body can build antibodies to it.”

None of the covid vaccines contain even a small amount of live virus. You can’t catch COVID from the vaccines.


20 posted on 04/13/2021 10:09:53 AM PDT by DugwayDuke (Most pick the expert who says the things they agree with.)
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