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The one-minute DIY fertility home-test kit

Men who are worried about whether or not they can father a child can now check their sperm count with the first home test kit.

When couples are unable to have a child, it is sometimes assumed there is something wrong with the woman.

But research has shown that a man is just as likely to have a problem with his fertility as his partner.

The new test kit, developed in Britain and the U.S. with the approval of the Medical Devices Agency and the American Food and Drug Administration, costs £29.99. It can reveal whether a man has a sperm count high enough to father a child.

The test involves adding thiazine blue, which reacts to DNA in the sperm, to a sample, triggering the release of a blue colour. If the mixture turns dark blue, the sample is above the 20-millionspermper-millilitre level regarded by doctors as the cut-off point between fertility and infertility.

Men with a low sperm count can become fathers, but fertility starts to become a problem when the count drops below the 20 million marker.

If the test shows a lighter shade of blue, it places the man on the borderline between fertility and infertility. A pale result would indicate a count well below 20 million.

The manufacturers say the test - which takes one minute to produce a result - has been shown to be 87 per cent accurate. Clinical trials were carried out at Harvard University Medical School.

Men with a count below average or borderline are advised to carry out a second test after a few months. If they get a similar result, they should consult their doctor.

Men's sperm levels have plummeted over the past 60 years and no one is exactly sure why. While they can be affected by smoking and excessive drinking, environmental factors, such as the use of pesticides in food production and polluting plastics, are also thought to be responsible.

In the 1940s the average male sperm count was somewhere between 80 and 100 million per millilitre. Latest figures show the average count is now between 40 and 60 million.

A recent Danish report is particularly disturbing: a random study of 200 men under the age of 25 showed that a third had a sperm count of less than 20 million.

James Simpson, a 33-yearold recruitment consultant from Putney, South-West London, and his partner, Claire MacDonald, also 33, have been trying for a baby for more than a year. He was worried about his fertility and sent off for a test kit after reading about it on the internet.

He said: 'I think my lifestyle may have been affecting my fertility, so I decided to see if I was the problem. I've been drinking and smoking fairly heavily since I was a teenager and

'Young men in Britain seem to like drinking a fair amount. It has become an almost automatic way of life in your teens and 20s. As well as my drinking, I'd smoke 20 cigarettes a day. Also, I wasn't eating enough fruit and vegetables.'

When James tested himself in May he was shocked to discover that his sperm count was about 20 million: on the borderline between being fertile and having infertility problems.

He said: 'I decided stopping smoking, cutting right back on drinking, and improving my diet might improve the situation. Like a lot of guys, I'd assumed that when the time arrived I would be able to become a father easily. Now, the test has shown that I, rather than my partner, might have problems.

'Claire and I decided it would be easier if I did the testing first because the tests for women are not straightforward and are invasive.

'I'm not panicking - but the first positive thing I felt I could do was to cut back on some excesses and see if that helped. Now, I hardly drink, apart from the odd glass of wine or beer, and my diet has changed radically.

'I plan to wait another three months and take the test again to see if the lifestyle changes have helped. If they haven't, I will ask my doctor for advice about what to do next.'

Dr Rob Barlow, the British biochemist who helped design the sperm test kit, says: ''There a lot of men who still believe there couldn't possibly be anything wrong with their fertility.

Sadly, the assumption is that it is more likely to be the woman who has something wrong. But research has shown that the chances of a fertility problem occurring for either sex are almost equal at 40 per cent.

'The other 20 per cent is made up of couples who both have a problem with their fertility.

'And with men's sperm count continuing to decline, we are getting to the stage where there is likely to be a significant number of men hovering around the 20 million mark. In the first instance, it would make sense for the man to check out his status. We are not saying that men on the borderline or below 20 million will not be able to become fathers in the normal way. 'But a sperm test does help to indicate a man's level of fertility which might - if a second test shows a similar result - lead him to seek specialist advice and help.

'It is also possible that a man might have a normal score and still have problems becoming a father. This could be because of the quality of the sperm and their motility: their ability to reach the egg and fertilise it.'

Dr Barlow - who discovered he was infertile 25 years ago - is aware of the effect it can have on a man's self-esteem.

He said: 'Like a lot of guys, I didn't think I had a problem. In those days, there wasn't the help of fertility treatment, so we adopted. But now there are lots of ways of helping both men and women.'

Dr Barlow says that testing a man's sperm is one of the simplest things a couple can do if they think they have fertility problems.

He added: 'More tests will probably be needed by a specialist if their count is low, but at least the test is a pointer in the right direction. It is certainly cheaper than going to a private fertility clinic.'

To buy the FertilMarq male fertility test kit, contact HomeChec on 0871 871 0691 or go to www.homechec.co.uk.