Agbomhere Hamed Moses, Ahmed Surakat Olabanji, Olukayode Ekundina Victor, Bolajoko Jimoh Kabirat, Ezekiel Adeogun Adetomiwa, Omolola Akanji Nafisat, Joshua Babalola Oluwafemi, Chukwunonso Eya Patrick
Department of Neuroendocrinology, The Brainwill Laboratory, Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria.
Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.
J Trop Med. 2025 Apr 30;2025:2126664. doi: 10.1155/jotm/2126664. eCollection 2025.
Battling female infertility has posed a global challenge, where neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are nonetheless a notable contributing factor. NTDs affect a variety of diseases, often of a chronic nature, which are often cited as some of the most lethal diseases operating against the most economically disadvantaged populations across the globe. The various causative agents for NTDs have been documented and could originate from a myriad of sources-from bacteria, fungi and viruses to ecto- and endoparasitic species-including but not limited to helminths and protozoa. This paper will seek to describe how NTDs influence female reproductive health, together with likely mediators. While these diseases have curable forms, their effects have gone well beyond female infertility, to major pain, disability and even mortality, particularly in poorer countries, thus causing economic hardship, reduced productivity and a pool of social stigma. NTDs adversely affect female reproductive functions through multiple mechanisms, including ROS-sensitive signalling, depression of steroidogenic markers and promotion of apoptosis. The effects also may reflect their influence on ovarian histomorphology, consequently resulting in female infertility. Current-directed studies, however, suggest a potential benefit in combining drugs for the most common NTDs as a deterrent to possible female infertility endowed by NTD infection. Nonetheless, further clinical investigations will be instrumental in elucidating the probable preventive value of combination drugs as adjuvant therapy to NTDs infections. This will provide comprehensive insight into the pathophysiological and molecular basis for the impairment of female fertility brought about by NTDs, leading to the development of preventive models to curb the adverse effects of NTDs on female reproductive health. Therefore, attention should be given to providing the right, timely and effective mode of treatment for NTDs-related female infertility.
对抗女性不孕症已成为一项全球性挑战，而被忽视的热带病（NTDs）仍是一个显著的促成因素。NTDs会引发多种疾病，通常具有慢性性质，常被认为是全球最贫困人群中最致命的一些疾病。NTDs的各种病原体已被记录在案，其来源多种多样，从细菌、真菌和病毒到外寄生虫和内寄生虫物种，包括但不限于蠕虫和原生动物。本文将试图描述NTDs如何影响女性生殖健康以及可能的介导因素。虽然这些疾病有可治愈的形式，但其影响远远超出女性不孕症，还包括严重疼痛、残疾甚至死亡，尤其是在较贫穷国家，从而导致经济困难、生产力下降和社会耻辱感。NTDs通过多种机制对女性生殖功能产生不利影响，包括ROS敏感信号传导、类固醇生成标志物的抑制和细胞凋亡的促进。这些影响也可能反映在它们对卵巢组织形态学的影响上，进而导致女性不孕。然而，目前的研究表明，联合使用治疗最常见NTDs的药物可能对预防NTD感染导致的女性不孕有益。尽管如此，进一步的临床研究将有助于阐明联合药物作为NTD感染辅助治疗的潜在预防价值。这将全面深入了解NTDs导致女性生育能力受损的病理生理和分子基础，从而开发预防模型以遏制NTDs对女性生殖健康的不利影响。因此，应重视为与NTDs相关的女性不孕症提供正确、及时和有效的治疗方式。
