ReviewAndrology2021
COVID-19 and human spermatozoa-Potential risks for infertility and sexual transmission?
Review in Andrology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 109 citations in OpenAlex.
- SARS-CoV-2 impairs male fertility by targeting semen quality and testosterone level: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of COVID-19 on Male Reproductive System - A Systematic Review.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2021Pooled it
- Impact of COVID-19 on fertility and assisted reproductive technology (ART): a systematic review.Romanian journal of morphology and embryology = Revue roumaine de morphologie et embryologiePooled it
- Sexual and reproductive health consequences of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria: an infodemiological survey.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the male reproductive tract: insights from semen analysis and cryopreservation.Journal of assisted reproduction and genetics · 2025Article
- The effects of COVID-19 on semen parameter values in healthy males: a single-centre, retrospective study.PeerJ · 2025Article
- Epithelial and immune transcriptomic characteristics and possible regulatory mechanisms in asthma exacerbation: insights from integrated studies.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- The impact of COVID-19 on women's reproductive system.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Review
- Investigating the mode of transmission of COVID-19 through genital secretions, semen, the birth canal, and lactation: A systematic review.Journal of education and health promotion · 2024Article
- Zinc improves sexual performance and erectile function by preventing penile oxidative injury and upregulating circulating testosterone in lead-exposed rats.Redox report : communications in free radical research · 2023Article
- Autologous Human Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Based Therapy in Infertility: New Strategies and Future Perspectives.Biology · 2023Review
- Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic-related quarantine on female sexual behavior: a cross-sectional study in China.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- An Analysis of Google Trends During COVID-19: Determining Public Urological Cancer Concerns.Cureus · 2022Article
- Effects of growth hormone/estrogen/androgen on COVID-19-type proinflammatory responses in normal human lung epithelial BEAS-2B cells.BMC molecular and cell biology · 2022Article
- Covid-19 vaccination BNT162b2 temporarily impairs semen concentration and total motile count among semen donors.Andrology · 2022Article
- 4BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and semen: What do we know?Andrology · 2022Article
- Vulnerability of The Male Reproductive System to SARS-CoV-2 Invasion: Potential Role for The Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone Grp78/HSPA5/BiP.Cell journal · 2022Article
- The impact of COVID-19 on the male genital tract: a qualitative literature review of sexual transmission and fertility implications.Clinical and experimental reproductive medicine · 2022Article
- Sperm quality and absence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in semen after COVID-19 infection: a prospective, observational study and validation of the SpermCOVID test.Fertility and sterility · 2022Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
As COVID-19 infections wreak havoc across the globe, attention has rightly been focused on the vital organ systems (lung, kidney and heart) that are vulnerable to viral attack and contribute to the acute pathology associated with this disease. However, we should not lose sight of the fact that COVID-19 will attack any cell type in the body expressing ACE2 - including human spermatozoa. These cells possess the entire repertoire of receptors (AT1R, AT2R, MAS) and ligand processing enzymes (ACE1 and ACE2) needed to support the angiotensin signalling cascade. The latter not only provides COVID-19 with a foothold on the sperm surface but may also promote integration, given the additional presence of a range of proteases (TMPRSS2, TMPRSS11B, TMPRSS12, furin) capable of promoting viral fusion. This article reviews the roles played by these various cellular constituents in maintaining the vitality of human spermatozoa and their competence for fertilization. The reproductive consequences of a viral attack on these systems, in terms of fertility and the risk of sexual transmission, are currently unknown. However, we should be alive to the possibility that there may be reproductive consequences of COVID-19 infection in young males that go beyond their capacity to survive a viral attack.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.