Health & wellbeing This article is more than 23 years oldSeminal truths
This article is more than 23 years oldAngela Ermakowa's claim to be carrying Boris Becker's love child after a fumble in a broom cupboard raises a few biological questions for Luisa DillnerBoris Becker having sex with a Russian woman in a broom cupboard in a Japanese restaurant is an unlikely story to begin with. For the woman, Angela Ermakowa, to claim she now has his love child (apparently backed up by genetic testing) is even more extraordinary.
But if you're wondering what the odds are of getting pregnant from one act of sex, don't bother. Becker is telling the media he didn't have sex with Angela at all. His lawyers allege that Angela targeted Becker, stealing his sperm and inseminating herself to have his baby. The plan, apparently involving the Russian Mafia, was to blackmail Becker over his "love child".
The case raises a few basic biology questions aside from how Angela hid her mouth full of semen. Their goodbyes must have been limited to nods. But can sperm live for any time outside the vagina? Could they survive being given a saliva bath by the mouth? And if you then inseminate these traumatised sperm, do they have it in them to battle through the hostile female reproductive tract to find their egg?
In fact, sperm can be inseminated (using fingers or more sophisticated syringes) from anywhere they've been deposited outside the vagina. "Its possible for a woman to become pregnant with sperm inseminated into the vagina that's been ejaculated outside," says Dr Steve Brody, of the Advanced Fertility Institute of San Diego. "When sperm is ejaculated it's a gel-like, viscous substance. Within five to 15 minutes it liquifies. This gel phase is probably a mechanism to protect the sperm cells in the initial phase of ejaculation. No one knows for sure why it comes out like this. It's only after it liquifies that it really becomes mobile."
There is some variation with the liquefaction; sperm can take 30 minutes to get going. According to Dr Brody, sperm in a test tube is still moving between 8 and 24 hours after a sample has been given. Sperm held in the mouth will not be damaged as long as it's protected in its gel-like form. "If you check sperm in the vagina two hours after intercourse then most of them are immobilised," says Dr Brody. "They've lost their gel protection. The vagina is acid and semen is alkaline so maybe that's also why they have this coating."
Remarkably few sperm are actually produced with each ejaculation. There's usually 2-6 millilitres (about one half to a teaspoon), which contains between 200-300 million sperm and a mixture of sugar, protein, vitamin C, zinc and prostaglandins (the latter help the sperm travel through the womb). The sperm only make up 5% of the volume. And as anyone dieting will tell you, it's low in calories - just five per teaspoonful.
Immature sperm cells are present in baby boys but need the surge in hormones at puberty to grow into big sperm. Men make millions of sperm effortlessly a day. This is because a sperm's life is perilous and short. Many try to make babies but few succeed. Maybe only 20 of those millions get even close to meeting their egg.
They have to journey up through the vagina, through the womb and into the fallopian tubes that lead to the egg (if there is one, since it's a once-monthly event from the ovaries). Despite most sperm being paralysed by their protective gel, some are mobile as soon as they've landed. Studies show the early sperm reach the fallopian tubes in five minutes, with most of the others getting there by 45 minutes.
"It may be the sperm that get in right away that have the most chance of fertilising the egg," says Dr Brody. "A study in rabbits shows that if you destroy all the sperm in the vagina within five minutes the rabbit still gets pregnant." Humans, of course, don't breed like rabbits. In fact if, as Becker claims, Angela planned to get pregnant, she was incredibly lucky to do so from one lot of sperm. Even a healthy 18-year-old couple, says Dr Brody, only have a 24% chance of getting pregnant from having sex once. Ever wondered why there are so many rats these days? Their equivalent pregnancy rate is 90%.
And if this was a plan to produce another baby Becker, Angela (who at 33 has considerably reduced fertility compared with an 18 year old) would have had to know when she was ovulating. Preferably she would have read the recent research paper in the New England Journal that revolutionised current thinking on fertility.
Traditionally the most fertile period was said to be the day the egg is released (ovulation which occurs around the 14th or 15th day of the menstrual cycle) and the next day. But this latest research shows it's the day before and the day of ovulation that are the most fertile. An egg only lives for about a day but sperm can be sniffing around far longer. "You can find sperm around 85 hours after they've been ejaculated," says Dr Brody. "It's possible for a woman to get pregnant from having sex six days before she ovulates."
While paternity is easy to decide, it may be impossible to prove whether Becker did have sexual intercourse with Ermakowa. Becker's lawyers may argue that Ermakowa stole his sperm to fertilise herself, which could put a whole new spin on the act of ejaculation. Rather than being freely given will men start asking for their sperm back (saying it was only a loan)? Like Bill Clinton, Becker may rue his misconception that oral equals safe sex.
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