--- title: You Asked: Can People Be Allergic to Semen? description: Semen allergy is a real thing, but it's often confused for vaginitis. Many women are allergic to sperm without even realizing it. canonical: https://time.com/4580757/semen-allergy-sex/ author: Markham Heid article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-23T13:00:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:27:23.757Z article:section: Health og:title: You Asked: Can People Be Allergic to Semen? og:description: Semen allergy is a real thing, but it's often confused for vaginitis. Many women are allergic to sperm without even realizing it. og:url: https://time.com/4580757/semen-allergy-sex/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd374578c66ed09e9/6988af7f0b72e36bb26ebd99/allergic-to-semen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Sperm cells og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: You Asked: Can People Be Allergic to Semen? twitter:description: Semen allergy is a real thing, but it's often confused for vaginitis. Many women are allergic to sperm without even realizing it. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd374578c66ed09e9/6988af7f0b72e36bb26ebd99/allergic-to-semen.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # You Asked: Can People Be Allergic to Semen? > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Markham Heid](https://time.com/author/markham-heid/) ## Markham Heid Markham Heid is a contributor at TIME. He is the author of The Habit Trap, due out in early 2027. Nov 23, 2016 1:00 PM UTC  Sperm cells. Computer artwork of sperm cells (or spermatozoa. These are the male sex cells, and are produced in the testes. They carry one half of the genetic material for a new human. The other half is in the female sex cell (ovum) with which one sperm merges during fertilisation. The genetic material of each sperm is carried in the rounded head, while its long tail is used to move itself. Some 300 million sperm are released by the male during ejaculation, as opposed to the one ovum the female releases in ovulation. A single sperm cell is less than 0.1 millimetres long. Sperm cells. Computer artwork of sperm cells (or spermatozoa. These are the male sex cells, and are produced in the testes. They carry one half of the genetic material for a new human. The other half is in the female sex cell (ovum) with which one sperm merges during fertilisation. The genetic material of each sperm is carried in the rounded head, while its long tail is used to move itself. Some 300 million sperm are released by the male during ejaculation, as opposed to the one ovum the female releases in ovulation. A single sperm cell is less than 0.1 millimetres long. Getty Images by [Markham Heid](https://time.com/author/markham-heid/) ## Markham Heid Markham Heid is a contributor at TIME. He is the author of The Habit Trap, due out in early 2027. Nov 23, 2016 1:00 PM UTC It sounds like a bawdy joke. But semen allergies are a thing—and may be a much more common thing than most people realize. Up to 40,000 women in the U.S. alone might have a hypersensitivity to one or more of the protein components in human semen, according to a review [study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21913207) from the University of Cincinnati. A protein made in a man’s prostate gland may be the prime culprit. “However, given the myriad proteins and other biomolecules in semen, there may be more than one allergen responsible,” says Michael Carroll, a senior lecturer in reproductive and clinical science at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK. A guy’s diet may even play a role. Carroll cites [one case study](http://www.jiaci.org/issues/vol17issue03/10.pdf) in which a woman who was allergic to nuts had a bad reaction to her boyfriend’s semen after he ate a Brazil nut. So it’s possible people who aren’t typically allergic to semen may experience a reaction, depending on what their partner has been eating. In 2011, Carroll coauthored [a study](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237842230%5FTesting%5Ffor%5Fhypersensitivity%5Fto%5Fseminal%5Ffluid-free%5Fspermatozoa) on “hypersensitivity to human semen” (HHS), the medical name for a semen allergy. He says symptoms include itching, redness, burning and swelling in the vagina and vulva area, as well as classic systemic allergy symptoms like hives, breathing problems and eczema. “It’s thought to be a type-1 allergic reaction: the same type of reaction that one gets from pollen or cat dander,” he says. Women who experience HHS tend to have symptoms emerge right after unprotected sex or contact with semen. Those symptoms can last more than 24 hours. But in many cases, doctors may misdiagnose the condition as an infection or chronic vaginitis. How can you tell if you have a semen allergy? The first (and most obvious) predictor is if you have some of the above symptoms after unprotected sex, but not when your partner wears a condom. Carroll says skin prick tests and blood antibody profiles can confirm a semen allergy. Condom use is an effective solution, although that won’t help couples trying to get pregnant. The good news is that Carroll’s research has shown sperm “washed” of seminal fluid do not cause allergic reactions. Also, having HHS doesn’t seem to harm a woman’s ability to conceive, he says. If you have a semen allergy and you’re trying to have a baby, your doctor can prescribe prophylactic antihistamines, which you would take 30 to 60 minutes before sex, Carroll says. 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