THE burden of family planning may be about to shift to men.
A study suggests that sperm levels shoot back to normal around three months after men stop taking experimental hormonal contraceptives, raising the prospect of a male contraceptive implant or patch in the near future.
Christina Wang of the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California, and her colleagues pooled data from 1549 men in 30 studies whose sperm counts dropped below 3 million sperm per millilitre while taking hormonal contraceptives. The World Health Organization defines 20 million sperm per millilitre as fertile (The Lancet, vol 367, p 1412). Extended periods of treatment were associated with slightly longer recovery time.
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鈥淢ale contraception is most likely to come in the form of a patch, topical gel or injection鈥�
When male contraception arrives, it will most likely come in the form of a patch, topical gel or bi-monthly injection, say researchers. Making a male birth control pill remains tricky because orally delivered testosterone can have serious side effects, such as liver damage.
