Prague, June 1 (CTK) – Czech men show interest in the testing of their sperm, the promotion of which recently started online, in a situation where one fourth of Czech couples are infertile, daily Pravo writes on Wednesday.
The fertility of men has become a problem because the sperm count decreased by more than 60 percent over the past 25 years, the paper writes.
“We have mediated hundreds of tests and further clinics addressed us that would like to offer this service,” said Jana Moravkova, from the online project that started promoting the sperm tests two months ago.
Moravkova said the new project wants to make sperm testing widely available and easy.
Through the muzicinu.cz website, a man can choose a clinic in Prague or one of several other Czech cities, fill in a form and pay 800 crowns online. The man can either come to the clinic or send a sample of his sperm to it. The test results can be handed to the man or sent by e-mail on the day of the test. If any fertility problem is revealed, the man can then consult a specialist, the paper writes.
Up to one fourth of Czech couples have problems to conceive a child. The man as well as the woman are responsible for the infertility in 40 percent of the cases and in 20 percent the infertility results from a combination of both partners’ factors, Pravo writes.
It says doctors can help up to 95 percent of the women to become pregnant.
In 2013-2014, 6202 babies were born to 5300 women thanks to assisted reproduction cycles launched in 2013, the paper writes, referring to the latest data from the Czech register of assisted reproduction.
Rene Bastl, director of the Merck pharmaceutical firm that is a partner of the online sperm testing project, said the sperm test can reveal even potential future problems and deal with them in time.
“Men saw sperm tests as something humiliating or unpleasant for a long time. Many of them can see no sense in the test if they do not feel any problem themselves,” Bastl told Pravo.
Experts consider the low sperm count, the low mobility or poor quality of the sperm as alarming.
“The 60 percent decrease (in the man’s average sperm count) in 25 years is considered disastrous by gynaecologists,” said David Rumpik, head of the Clinic of Reproduction Medicine and Gynaecology in Zlin, south Moravia.
Some foreign experts say the sperm count will fall to zero in the 2060s, Rumpik said.
“When a man came to see me in the 1990s and his test showed that he had 20 million of sperm per milliliter of semen, I told him that he had a serious trouble and we treated him. If such a man came in 2000, I would have congratulated him and told him everything is all right. In 2010, this man would in fact be above the average,” Rumpik told the paper.
