January 9, 2003

(Dayton Daily News) -- Finally, there's an over-the-counter fertility test for men. FertilMARQ evaluates the number of sperm a man is producing.

"There can be some false positives," said Dr. Wayne Maxson, a fertility specialist in West Palm Beach, Fla. "But it's just a screening test for the number of sperm. What's the harm?"

The test doesn't tell you whether those sperm are still alive and swimming. "You have to take the results with a grain of salt," Maxson cautioned. "It's kind of a clever little test that tells whether the man seems to have a bunch (of sperm) or not. For fertility purposes, for a work-up, it helps me not at all. You just have to understand its limitations."

This is the first, FDA-approved home diagnostic test for sperm concentration. Its founders say, in a press release, that although it doesn't measure the sperm's size, shape or ability to move, "it is known that 80-90 percent of semen samples with (low) sperm concentrations also have low (speed and ability to move) and/or abnormal (size and shape.)"

The test, sold for just less than $40, is expected to be available at drugstores. Forty percent of infertility problems are caused by the man, 40 percent by the woman and 20 percent are a combination of both, or unexplainable.

Tests conducted during the FDA approval process showed the FertilMARQ test matching professional test results 87 percent of the time. Test developers hope the kit will encourage men to seek treatment if the count is low.