Is Sex Making You Sick?

Do pain, swelling, itching, burning and sometimes even blisters after sex leave you saying “Not tonight, honey”? Here’s a reason you may not have thought of – you might actually be allergic to your partner…

- Loren Stow

Although extremely rare, some women are actually allergic to sperm, either to just their partner’s or to any and every kind of sperm out there. Technically called seminal plasma hypersensitivity (SPH), a woman who is allergic to sperm develops what is called antisperm antibodies, because her immune system recognises it as a foreign protein, and mistakenly thinks that the sperm is dangerous and must be rejected by her body.

CAUSES

There are a number of causes for a sperm allergy, including the presence of genital tract infection; if a partner has congenital abnormalities in his sperm, or even if he has had a vasectomy reversed.

In fact, Dr Steven Witkin, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Weill Medical College at Cornell University, New York City, believes that most men who have had a vasectomy develop antisperm antibodies and if they have a reversal, this complication will certainly affect any fertility challenges.

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