Coronavirus disease and male fertility: a systematic review

Fathi, Mobina; Vakili, Kimia; Aliaghaei, Abbas; Nematollahi, Shahrzad; Peirouvi, Tahmineh; Shalizar-Jalali, Ali

BACKGROUND: Based on the information from other SARS-CoV infections in the patients recovered from COVID-19, particularly cases in the reproductive age, gonadal function evaluation and andrological consultation comprising semen analysis are recommended. MAIN BODY: Based on the COVID-19 infected patients’ seminal fluid analyses, SARS-CoV-2 may employ the male reproductive system as a transmission pathway. It has been also demonstrated that angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) can be strongly expressed at the protein levels in the testicular cells. The high expression of ACE2 in testes suggests that testes in the COVID-19 infected males can have an important role in the viral persistence and this subject needs further investigations. Several researchers have examined males recovered from COVID-19, but still, large-scale experiments are needed to determine the effects of SARS-CoV-2 on the male reproductive system as well as viral transmission risk. CONCLUSION: Comprehensive researches are required to figure out the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in seminal fluid as well as its sexual transmissibility and impact on sperm characteristics.