Count Your Sperms Before You Plan

By Super Admin

Tuesday, May 17, 2011, 9:11

Gone are the days when women was thought of as the sole responsible for child birth. Now, a new device has been invented that checks a man's sperm count.

The new home test kit, developed by University of Virginia Health System cell biologist John C. Herr, based on a protein in sperm can determining if a man's sperm count is normal, low, or very low.

SpermCheck Fertility, the device recently underwent clinical and consumer studies to evaluate its accuracy and ease of use and the results are positive.

By measuring sperm levels at 20 million sperm per milliliter and 5 million sperm per milliliter, men can discover if they have normal levels of sperm, low levels (between 5 million and 20 million per milliliter) and very low sperm levels (below 5 million).

The device works similarly to home pregnancy tests, with lines changing colour based on the number of sperm found per milliliter.

"The SpermCheck Fertility test is designed as a first line assay for use by couples who suspect infertility. The test is also useful for men of any age who simply want to know if their sperm count is in the normal range. After reading the results couples can determine whether to seek comprehensive clinical evaluation of the male partner's fertility status," Herr said.

Another product called SpermCheck Contraception, is now undergoing testing in a multi-center. It has been found that once a man starts using one of the current experimental male contraceptives, which are based on steroid compounds, sperm counts decline over a period of several months.