When sex is dangerous

Allergy to sperm

Fabian Schmidt, Natalia Koroleva, Deutsche Welle

Sudden redness of the skin, severe itching, shortness of breath, dizziness... Sometimes an allergic reaction is so strong that it can even cause a fatal shock. How to deal with this delicate problem?

The chief physician of the Bonn University Clinic, dermatologist and allergist, Professor Jean Pierre Allam, still remembers his first patient, who had a rare type of disease – allergy to male sperm. The woman complained that after sexual contact she began to show signs of a local allergic reaction – severe itching and swelling of the genitals. According to the doctor, currently about a third of patients in allergy departments are making similar complaints.

Many women suffering from this type of allergy have even more severe symptoms. We are talking about so-called systemic reactions that cause harm to the whole body. "In such cases, redness of the skin is accompanied by severe burning, shortness of breath, dizziness, frequent urge to defecate and urinate. It can reach anaphylactic shock, fraught with loss of consciousness and even death," explains Professor Jean-Pierre Allam. According to him, it looks like an allergic reaction caused by the sting of bees and wasps.

Despite the fact that for the first time the picture of this disease was described back in 1958, very few people still know about sperm allergy. On the one hand, the reason lies in the fact that few cases of such a disease are described in the specialized literature – only about a hundred. There are no exact statistics either. According to the assumptions of doctors, in developed countries, this form of allergy is especially widespread. It's just that not all women suffering from it decide to go to the doctor. Or doctors make an erroneous diagnosis, because allergies to sperm are easily confused with infectious or venereal diseases.

Risk group

Male sperm consists of a number of substances that can cause allergies. In most cases, it is provoked by an endogenous protein (prostate specific antigen – PSA) contained in the prostate of every man. During ejaculation, PSA provides dilution of sperm and thereby increases sperm motility, which is necessary for penetration into the female egg and its fertilization.

In some patients, a severe allergic reaction marked the first sexual intercourse in their life. Studies conducted later gave grounds to assume that the risk group includes primarily women who are allergic to canine dogs. From the mucous membrane of the canine external genitalia, endogenous protein spreads through the dog's fur, after which it can spread throughout the apartment. So when they talk about "hypersensitivity to dogs", we are not talking about allergies to wool, but about allergies to foreign proteins that have settled on the hairs. Therefore, doctors strongly recommend: if you have a dog, be careful, pat the dog – wash your hands thoroughly!

Allergies to sperm are also susceptible to those who are hypersensitive to certain foods. For example, there is a case when a woman suffering from an allergy to nuts almost lost her life after sexual contact with a man who, as it later turned out, was eating nuts a few hours before the date.

When men suffer

An allergic reaction to sperm is also found in men. This disease, called "Post–orgasmic malaise Syndrome" (Post-OrgasmicIllness Syndrome - POIS), has been little studied so far. According to Professor Allam, the symptoms reported by such patients are not always characteristic of allergies. Patients complain of headache, prostration, fever, runny nose. Moreover, the malaise can make itself felt for a whole week after ejaculation. At first glance, everything looks like a cold.

Nevertheless, doctors believe that in some cases it may be an allergic reaction. This is confirmed by the results of the so-called skin allergological tests used in the diagnosis of allergic diseases. They showed that many men suffering from post-orgasmic malaise syndrome are also allergic to their own PSA. The social consequences of this autoimmune disease are such that during sex, many patients try to avoid orgasm, or abstain from sexual intimacy altogether.

How to defeat the disease

But what should those who react allergic to sperm do? For women who do not want to have children, the easiest solution to the problem is to use a condom, says Jean-Pierre Allam. For those who dream of offspring, the doctor offers three options. If allergy symptoms are only local in nature and do not affect the entire body, the patient can take antihistamines that can relieve itching, swelling, redness.

Another possibility is to use the method of desensitization with allergens contained in semen: allergen in a small amount is locally injected into a woman's body. Each time its volume increases. Gradually, the immune system gets used to the substance, and tolerance is developed, explains Jean-Pierre Allam.

At the same time, the allergist makes a significant reservation: the disadvantage of the desensitization method is that in order to maintain tolerance, the repeated introduction of allergens must be carried out in a relatively short time – every two to three days. Otherwise, everything will go to waste.

The third option is artificial insemination. If a woman wants to give birth to a child from a partner whose DOG she is allergic to, his sperm is taken, the sperm are gradually released from the prostate specific antigen and their introduction into the egg. In Germany, if an allergy is confirmed by a doctor's diagnosis, the costs of these procedures can be covered by medical insurance.

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  24.05.2016