Overview

• Peer-reviewed research from Australia’s Florey Institute, published in Nature Communications, infected male mice with SARS‑CoV‑2 and bred them after recovery.
• Offspring of infected fathers consistently showed more anxiety-like behaviors compared with controls.
• Analysis identified changes in small noncoding RNAs in sperm that regulate genes important for brain development.
• Female offspring exhibited pronounced hippocampal gene-activity differences associated with anxiety and other affective behaviors.
• The authors emphasize this is an animal study and say human relevance is unknown, noting prior reports that COVID-19 has been linked to poorer sperm quality.