Covid-19 infection causes changes to sperm in mice that may increase anxiety in their offspring, a study released Saturday said, suggesting the pandemic's possibly long-lasting effects on future generations.

Researchers at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia, infected male mice with the virus that causes Covid, mated them with females, and assessed the impacts on the health of their offspring.

"We found that the resulting offspring showed more anxious behaviours compared to offspring from uninfected fathers," the study's first author Elizabeth Kleeman said.

The study -- published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications -- found that all the offspring from Covid-infected fathers exhibited those changes.

In particular, females showed

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