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American Morning

Paging Dr. Gupta: Male Fertility

Aired July 15, 2003 - 08:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There is a new at-home fertility test designed to help men measure their sperm count.
Our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to talk more about that.

Good to see you back in New York.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Fertile mark, that's the name of it. It's a relatively new test designed to measure just sperm count. It's at home, it's private, these are the things that it does. Listen, 6.1 million Americans infertile. That's about 10 percent of the reproductive-age population, 20 percent of all U.S. couples, and here is a fact that sort of surprises most people. Infertility, both on the women's and men's side, about equal, 40 percent on both sides; 20 percent of the time, it's either both, or they never know exactly why.

This new test now again, just designed to measure sperm count works similar to a home pregnancy test. You, basically, you can see the picture there. It has a bunch of wells. What happens, basically is when the sperm is actually placed on the card. If it turns a dark blue, that's a good sign. That's more than 20 million sperm per milliliter, you can see the pictures there. A light blue, not such a good sign, less than 20 million sperm per milliliter.

These are important numbers, because the World Health Organization says that's what it takes usually to get pregnant, about 40 to 300 million is a normal count. Below 10 million is an abnormal count, and fine, meaning you're going to go ahead and get pregnant about there, about 20 million sperm per millimeter. It costs about 40 bucks, takes about half an hour, but there are a lot of different facts who are it comes to fertility. Some critics have warned that this may be the case of a little bit of information can be a dangerous thing. Again, this just measuring sperm count.

HEMMER: A dangerous thing. Again, have you noticed couples clamoring for this, or not?

GUPTA: Well, it's interesting, this has been around really since last year. The FDA has been marketing it. And what the president of the company actually came out and said is the biggest consumers have actually been women. Women who are part of an infertile couple actually driving their men to get the test and driving them to the doctor's office if the test comes back abnormal. So I don't know about clamoring, but certainly a popular item. HEMMER: Sperm count is one thing with a male. There are other factors to consider when it comes to fertility?

GUPTA: Yes, lots of different factors when it comes to fertility. Sperm count may be just one of them. There's a whole list of things in fact. If you are concerned about infertility, there a lot of things that should be checked, hormone levels, PH levels, that's the acidity of the sperm. White blood cell count can give you an idea of how sick, if there's immune system problems.

But also when it comes to sperm itself, the total count being one of them, but also the concentration, the motility, how well they're swimming, the speed, the size, the shape. There are all sort of different things.

What the makers of the test are really hoping is that if the test comes back abnormal then it should go ahead and drive people to the doctors to get more tests. It should not provide a sense of false security.

HEMMER: Very interesting stuff. If you want to decrease your chance of becoming infertile, you want to stay fertile, in other words...

GUPTA: Yes, there are recommendations. One of the most studied things in medicine, take a look at the list really quick there, avoid drugs, excess alcohol, sexually transmitted diseases, everyone knows those cause problems with infertility.

HEMMER: Very interesting statistic there, 40 percent infertility. Good to see you again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired July 15, 2003 - 08:42   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There is a new at-home fertility test designed to help men measure their sperm count.
Our medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here to talk more about that.

Good to see you back in New York.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Fertile mark, that's the name of it. It's a relatively new test designed to measure just sperm count. It's at home, it's private, these are the things that it does. Listen, 6.1 million Americans infertile. That's about 10 percent of the reproductive-age population, 20 percent of all U.S. couples, and here is a fact that sort of surprises most people. Infertility, both on the women's and men's side, about equal, 40 percent on both sides; 20 percent of the time, it's either both, or they never know exactly why.

This new test now again, just designed to measure sperm count works similar to a home pregnancy test. You, basically, you can see the picture there. It has a bunch of wells. What happens, basically is when the sperm is actually placed on the card. If it turns a dark blue, that's a good sign. That's more than 20 million sperm per milliliter, you can see the pictures there. A light blue, not such a good sign, less than 20 million sperm per milliliter.

These are important numbers, because the World Health Organization says that's what it takes usually to get pregnant, about 40 to 300 million is a normal count. Below 10 million is an abnormal count, and fine, meaning you're going to go ahead and get pregnant about there, about 20 million sperm per millimeter. It costs about 40 bucks, takes about half an hour, but there are a lot of different facts who are it comes to fertility. Some critics have warned that this may be the case of a little bit of information can be a dangerous thing. Again, this just measuring sperm count.

HEMMER: A dangerous thing. Again, have you noticed couples clamoring for this, or not?

GUPTA: Well, it's interesting, this has been around really since last year. The FDA has been marketing it. And what the president of the company actually came out and said is the biggest consumers have actually been women. Women who are part of an infertile couple actually driving their men to get the test and driving them to the doctor's office if the test comes back abnormal. So I don't know about clamoring, but certainly a popular item. HEMMER: Sperm count is one thing with a male. There are other factors to consider when it comes to fertility?

GUPTA: Yes, lots of different factors when it comes to fertility. Sperm count may be just one of them. There's a whole list of things in fact. If you are concerned about infertility, there a lot of things that should be checked, hormone levels, PH levels, that's the acidity of the sperm. White blood cell count can give you an idea of how sick, if there's immune system problems.

But also when it comes to sperm itself, the total count being one of them, but also the concentration, the motility, how well they're swimming, the speed, the size, the shape. There are all sort of different things.

What the makers of the test are really hoping is that if the test comes back abnormal then it should go ahead and drive people to the doctors to get more tests. It should not provide a sense of false security.

HEMMER: Very interesting stuff. If you want to decrease your chance of becoming infertile, you want to stay fertile, in other words...

GUPTA: Yes, there are recommendations. One of the most studied things in medicine, take a look at the list really quick there, avoid drugs, excess alcohol, sexually transmitted diseases, everyone knows those cause problems with infertility.

HEMMER: Very interesting statistic there, 40 percent infertility. Good to see you again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com