Motamedifar Mohammad, Malekzadegan Yalda, Namdari Parisa, Dehghani Behzad, Jahromi Bahia Namavar, Sarvari Jamal
Shiraz HIV/AIDS Research Center, Institute of Health, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Department of Bacteriology and Virology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
Infect Disord Drug Targets. 2020;20(2):198-202. doi: 10.2174/1871526519666181123182116.
Infertility considered as a social and public health issue and estimated that most of these infertile couples are residents of developing countries. Infectious diseases including the history of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) may impact on male reproductive function. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the prevalence of bacterial contaminants of semen and probable association with sperm quality of infertile men in Iranian population.
The study population consisted of 200 infertile men and 150 fertile men attending an infertility Center in southwestern Iran during the study period in 2015. The assessment of sperm parameters was according to the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. The presumptive pathogens were identified using standard microbiology tests and confirmed by specific PCR primers.
The prevalence of bacteriospermia in the semen of the infertile group was significantly higher than that in the fertile group (48% vs. 26.7%, P <0.001). The microbiological analysis of samples showed that the most abundant species of bacteria in semen of infertile men were Chlamydia trachomatis (12.5%) followed by Neisseria gonorrhoeae (11%). On the other hand, in the control group, Lactobacillus spp. (17.3%) was the most isolated pathogen. Results showed that the presence of N. gonorrhoeae, C. trachomatis, Mycoplasma genitalium, Haemophilus, and Klebsiella was significantly associated with sperm abnormality.
Based on our findings, it seems that bacteriospermia is associated with alterations in the properties of semen which may lead to a decrease in the fertilization potential of sperm. Therefore, immediate and appropriate treatment is necessary before investigating every other possible cause of infertility.
不孕症被视为一个社会和公共卫生问题，据估计，这些不孕夫妇大多居住在发展中国家。包括性传播感染（STIs）病史在内的传染病可能会影响男性生殖功能。因此，本研究旨在调查伊朗人群中不育男性精液细菌污染物的患病率以及与精子质量的可能关联。
研究人群包括2015年研究期间在伊朗西南部一家不孕症中心就诊的200名不育男性和150名生育男性。精子参数评估按照世界卫生组织（WHO）指南进行。使用标准微生物学检测鉴定推定病原体，并通过特异性PCR引物进行确认。
不育组精液中细菌感染的患病率显著高于生育组（48%对26.7%，P<0.001）。样本的微生物分析表明，不育男性精液中最常见的细菌种类是沙眼衣原体（12.5%），其次是淋病奈瑟菌（11%）。另一方面，在对照组中，乳酸杆菌属（17.3%）是最常分离出的病原体。结果显示，淋病奈瑟菌、沙眼衣原体、生殖支原体、嗜血杆菌和克雷伯菌的存在与精子异常显著相关。
根据我们的研究结果，似乎细菌感染与精液性质的改变有关，这可能导致精子受精潜力下降。因此，在调查其他可能的不孕原因之前，必须立即进行适当治疗。
