At Home Sperm Testing

http://www.webwomb.com/fertilmarq_faq.htm. In our trials, the test easily distinguished between samples with normal sperm counts and those with little or no sperm. Clear positive results were obtained with sperm counts of 99, 73.5 and 32.6 million sperm/ml. Clear negatives were obtained with samples that we counted as 0, 3 and 4.4 million sperm/ml. Only when we analyzed samples close to the test threshold did we find any discrepancies (a sample counted at 18 million sperm/ml came up positive). The kit is no substitute for testing in a clinical laboratory. The main shortcomings are that the test only looks at sperm number and not other parameters in the semen sample that are equally important for fertility diagnosis and treatment. If you have sperm, but they are not swimming, you would pass this test. Also, individuals with sperm counts that are slightly below normal can pass the test perhaps giving certain men a false sense of security. For these reasons, your fertility physician may order a more detailed sperm analysis. In general, the test is easy to perform, readily available and inexpensive. The test kits that we received were part of a batch being shipped overseas, perhaps to a location where good clinical testing is not as accessible as it is in the US. And men that are too shy or embarrassed to go to their doctor for a semen analysis now have a better alternative. Two of the wells (A and C) are controls and are a light blue green color. The other 2 wells (B and D) are used for testing the semen. Wells B and D change color depending on how many sperm are in the test sample. If the color is as dark as or darker than the control well, you have sperm. -- Joe Conaghan, PhD

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