Men may soon be able to measure their own sperm count and quality at home, using a smartphone app developed by scientists. In early tests the gadget, designed to clip onto a smartphone, detected abnormal sperm samples with an accuracy of 98%.

In more than 40% of cases where couples struggle to conceive, the underlying fertility issue is linked to sperm abnormalities, but the researchers said that social stigma and lack of access to testing meant than many men never seek evaluation.

Hadi Shafiee, who led the work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, US, said: “We wanted to come up with a solution to make male infertility testing as simple and affordable... ". The team put the device together using spare parts from DVD and CD drives at a total cost of $4.45. Using the device simply involves drawing semen into a disposable holder that is plugged into one side of the phone attachment, in a similar way to a USB. In seconds, results of the analysis are displayed on the phone’s screen.

The test is an inexpensive smartphone attachment that quickly and accurately evaluates semen samples for fertility testing. Overall, the scientists examined 350 clinic samples and were able to identify those with low sperm counts and inactive or poorly motile sperm with 98% accuracy.

The team behind the device are planning to perform additional testing and will file for approval from the FDA, the US regulator.

Source:The Guardian UK

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Source:The Guardian UK

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