Mumps can cause infertility in men, scientists warn

Health experts have warned that mumps infection can affect the fertility of men by reducing the number of sperms and their ability to swim.
Mumps is a viral disease which manifests with fever, puffy cheeks and swollen jaw. The outbreak of the disease which majorly affects children, was confirmed in Kampala, Wakiso and Mukono by the Health Ministry on May 3, 2023. 
Dr Esther Babirekere, a paediatrician at Mulago Hospital said in an interview last week that they have also seen increases in the number of children presenting with mumps at the facility.

“Some of that virus may go into private parts of the men and it affects the testis and those men may be infertile. We encourage people to vaccinate against this,” Dr Babirekere said.
According to the Ministry of Health, up to 75 percent of infertility in the country is caused by treatable infectious diseases. Between 10 and 15 percent of couples in the country cannot have children because of infertility, according to studies by the ministry officials.

Different research studies also indicate that between 35 percent and 50 percent of the reasons for infertility in families are contributed by men, contrary to the social construct which majorly blames women.
A report by Dr Sahar Mohammed Zaki from Iraq which was published in the International Journal of Advanced Research, confirms the link between mumps and male infertility. But Dr Zaki states that age matters.
“Mumps can cause infertility in males if they are infected after puberty due to the rupture of the testis blood barrier and can affect the sperms either by decreasing the count or motility so it can lead to oligozoospermia (low sperm count) or asthenozoospermia (reduced sperm motility),” the 2016 report reads.
The researcher also explained that mumps also can lead to the production of antibodies against sperm.

“[This] can be detected either in blood or seminal fluid and these antibodies mostly affect the motility of sperm in the seminal fluid or the movement of sperm in the female reproductive canal and this results in infertility,” the report indicates.
Dr Allan Muruta, the Commissioner for Public Health Emergencies at the Health Ministry, however, said mumps is not one of the priority diseases that they focus on because it is self-limiting.
“We don’t have the vaccine in government. It is not because of the cost, but maybe because the disease is not very dangerous. It is possible that parents have become more aware and active in what is happening to their children. Most of us got the infection when we were still young,” he said.

Dr Babirekere of Mulago Hospital said the vaccine is in private facilities. Our quick survey found that one can access it at around 80,000 from private players.
However, some health experts and researchers believe that the risk of infertility due to mumps is very low and may only be temporary. 
According to information from the National Health Service (NHS) of England, under half of all males who get mumps-related orchitis (inflammation of testicles) notice some shrinkage of their testicles.
“…an estimated 1 in 10 men experience a drop in their sperm count (the amount of healthy sperm their body can produce). However, this is very rarely large enough to cause infertility,” the information from NHS reads.