There is evidence that certain male patients, particularly those who had a severe case and ended up being hospitalized for the disease, may experience disruptions in their fertility and sexual function. Recovering COVID-19 patients:
- Around the time of their diagnosis, 19% of patients had scrotal discomfort that may have been caused by a virus-induced inflammatory response.
- Clinically low sperm counts were present in 39% of patients, men who had all previously fathered at least one child on their own. In 61% of cases, sperm function was impaired.
- 33% of the semen samples had sperm with poorer swimming abilities and lower sperm quality. 25% of patients also claimed poor libido, and one patient said he had trouble getting an erection. The patients also experienced major hormone changes, which may be signs of problems with fertility.
- Significant imbalances of free radicals and antioxidants, indications of inflammation, and activation of pathways that promote sperm cell death were discovered after analyzing semen samples from patients every 10 days for 60 days. Sperm concentration was down 516 percent, and swimming prowess was down 209 percent.
Researchers discovered the following after reviewing the autopsy of deceased patients:
- In 50% of the biopsies, the ability to generate sperm was affected. Inflammation was present in 17%.
- Swelling and congestion of the testes, an indication of localized infection, as well as damaging changes to the seminiferous tubules where sperm forms, were frequent.
- Red blood cells were discovered in the testes and the epididymis tube, which is where semen flows, the seminiferous tubules were thinned, and there were significant amounts of dead sperm cells.