On the etiologic role of ureaplasma urealyticum (T-mycoplasma) infection in infertility.

Two hundred consecutive infertility patients and sixty-seven controls subjects were studied for the incidence of infection with Ureaplasma urealyticum (T-mycoplasma). On the basis of a complete infertility investigation, the infertility patients were subdivided into those with explained infertility and those with unexplained infertility. Of the patients with unexplained infertility, 55% had a positive culture for T-mycoplasma as compared with a 32% incidence of positive cultures in the control population. The differences were statistically significant. The 6-month pregnancy rate following successful antibiotic treatment in patients with unexplained infertility was 42%. The 6-month pregnancy rate in a comparable group of patients with unexplained infertility, seen during a 3-year period prior to mycoplasma culture and treatment, was 32%. The difference in pregnancy rates between the two groups was not statistically significant. No correlation was found between a poor postcoital test and the presence of T-mycoplasma infection nor between T-mycoplasma infection and poor cervical mucus. The role of T-mycoplasma infection in infertility was neither proven nor disproven by this study.