Reda Wigle<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your cough and runny nose may have only lasted a few days \u2014 but COVID\u2019s hidden effects on your little swimmers may impact your unborn children for years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Research published earlier this year<\/a> linked COVID-19 infections to poor sperm quality, including lower sperm count, motility and percentage of \u201cgrade A sperms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But a new study out this month shows that even if you manage to overcome that fertility issue, your coronavirus-tinged genetic material could pass problems onto your offspring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Researchers in Australia infected mice with the virus that causes COVID and had them reproduce with females \u2014 and found that their offspring had higher levels of anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe found that the resulting offspring showed more anxious behaviors compared to offspring from uninfected fathers,\u201d said lead study author Elizabeth Kleeman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Published in\u00a0Nature Communications<\/a>, this is the first study to explore the long-term impact of COVID on the health and development of succeeding generations.be a key risk factor for Parkinson’s disease: study<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Researchers found that the virus altered RNA molecules in sperm, which are \u201cinvolved in the regulation of genes that are known to be important in brain development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n All the offspring from COVID-infected fathers exhibited those effects, and females in particular showed \u201csignificant changes\u201d in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory, learning and emotional regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The team believes these shifts may, according to co-senior author Carolina Gubert, \u201ccontribute to the increased anxiety we observed in offspring, via epigenetic inheritance and altered brain development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Their findings suggest the COVID-19 pandemic could have an enduring impact on future generations, according to the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, they called for further research to determine whether people showed the same results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf our findings translate to humans, this could impact millions of children worldwide, and their families, with major implications for public health,\u201d lead researcher Anthony Hannan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of mental health in the post-COVID world, studies show that approximately 50% of adults aged 18 to 24 suffer from anxiety<\/a>, characterized by excessive worry, fear and nervousness that interfere with daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While COVID has been hell on our mental health, it has also been particularly detrimental to children\u2019s development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the pandemic, test scores have continued to drop<\/a> among students who were impacted by lockdown, and disparities between socioeconomic groups continue to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n