title: Study of cytomegalovirus infection in idiopathic infertility men referred to Shariati hospital, Tehran, Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a prevalent infection in humans. Recent studies have shown the role of CMV infection in male infertility disorder.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Here we aimed to study the role of CMV infection in men with idiopathic infertility.
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed a case-control study of CMV serology in 200 patients attending male infertility clinic of a university hospital. There were 154 men diagnosed with infertility and 46 men without infertility. The patients were asked to donate their sperm, blood, and urine. The presence of CMV infection was studied using quantitative polymerase chain reaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CMV infection was present in 25 of all the studied participants. Controls had a higher sperm count and sperm motility and sperm morphology compared to patients. There were no significant differences in the studied variables between those with and without CMV infection, nor in patients, neither in controls. Sperm morphology was negatively correlated with cigarette smoking (r=-0.15; p<0.03). Even though the prevalence of CMV infection was higher in patients with infertility in control and patient (5/46 vs. 20/154) respectively, this was not statistically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We did not show a significant role for CMV infection in male infertility. Based on the previous studies, it could be assumed that CMV infection is an important part of the male infertility and its treatment would improve the sperm quality, however this was not confirmed by the present study.
authors.affiliation: Iranian Center for Breast Cancer, Academic Center for Education Culture and Research (ACECR), Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Habibi
authors.affiliation: Iranian Center for Breast Cancer, Academic Center for Education Culture and Research (ACECR), Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bahrami
authors.affiliation: Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Afsaneh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Morteza
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Sadighi Gilani
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and Reproductive Biology, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hassanzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Genetics, Endocrine and Metabolism Research Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghadami
authors.affiliation: School of Allied Medical Sciences, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. ; Zoonosis Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Choobineh
keywords: Cytomegalovirus infection; Male infertility; Sperm morphology