Covid virus can cause changes in sperm, raise anxiety risk in future generations: Study

NEW DELHI: While Covid-19 infection is known to have lasting effects on the brain, an alarming animal study showed that SARS-CoV-2 infection in fathers before conception can cause changes in sperm, altering children’s brain development and behaviour, and increasing the risk of anxiety later.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, show that Covid could have long-lasting effects on future generations.

Previous studies have shown that male mice exposed to specific environmental and lifestyle factors, like a poor diet before mating, could change brain development and behaviour in offspring.

"This is because the father's experiences can alter the information carried in sperm, including specific RNA molecules, which transmit instructions for offspring development," said lead researcher Professor Anthony Hannan at the University of Melbourne’s Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Australia.