Genital mycoplasmas in semen samples of males attending a tertiary care hospital in Nigeria: any role in sperm count reduction?
Semen samples from 54 married men attending the outpatient clinics for problems of infertility and routine semen analysis were examined for the presence of genital mycoplasmas. The mean age of the men was 36.1 years with a range of 25 55 years. Majority of the men 57.4% (31 of 54) were in their fourth decade of life (30 39 years). This age group also had the highest percentage 57.2% (8 of 14) of positive isolates of genital mycoplasmas on semen culture. A total of 21 organisms obtained from 14 (26.0%) positive samples were isolated. Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma spp. separately isolated from the samples yielded frequencies of 1 (1.9%) and 6 (11.1%) respectively and the remaining 7 (13.0%) samples were infected with both organisms. A breakdown of the mycoplasma species include 5 (23.8%) M. hominis, 2 (9.5%) M. fermentans and 1 (4.8%) M. penetrans. Apart from one isolate of M. hominis other Mycoplasma species were found in association with Ureaplasma species. Fifteen (71.4%) of the 21 isolates [8 (53.3%) ureaplasmas and 7 (46.7%) mycoplasmas] were isolated from samples with sperm counts less than 20 million/ml while the remaining 6 (21.6%) isolates [5 (83.3%) ureaplasmas and 1 (16.7) mycoplasma] were from samples with counts greater than 20 million/ml. This finding could indicate a possible influence of genital mycoplasmas especially mycoplasmas species on sperm count.
Agbakoba
N R
NR
Department of Medical Microbiology, College of Health Sciences, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus, Nnewi, Nigeria. nnerag@yahoo.com
Adetosoye
A I
AI
Ikechebelu
J I
JI
D000328:Adult; D005832:Genital Diseases, Male / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005837:Genitalia, Male; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009175:Mycoplasma Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D045704:Mycoplasma genitalium; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015995:Prevalence; D012661:Semen / Q000737:chemistry*; D013076:Sperm Count / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*