Abstract

RODRIGUEZ PENDAS, Bertha Victoria et al. Micoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma urealyticum and aerobic bacteria present in the semen from men attending infertility service. Rev Cubana Endocrinol [online]. 2013, vol.24, n.1, pp.47-56. ISSN 1561-2953.

Introduction: human semen infections can alter the sperm quality and be associated to male infertility disorders. Objectives: to determine the frequency of infections from Micoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma urealyticum and other aerobic bacteria in the semen of men who attended the infertility service, and to identify whether there is some relation between the detected infections and the altered semen quality variables or not. Methods: a cross-sectional descriptive study was performed to evaluate semen samples from 140 men aged 20 to 45 years, who attended the infertility service at the National Institute of Endocrinology. According to the WHO guidelines, a complete spermiogram including leukocytospermia was performed in order to determine the qualitative and quantitative variables in the semen. The semen samples were cultured in blood agar and in chocolate agar at 37oC under CO2 environment to find out possible aerobic bacteria. To this end, a set of reagents known as Mycoplasma System Plus was used, allowing the culture, the identification, the semi-quantitative count and the antibiogram of urogenital mycoplasms/ureaplasms. The ethical aspects were allowed for; the results were analyzed through percentage estimations and the chi square test. Results: out of the 140 evaluated semen samples, 58 (41.4 %) showed some infection, 37 of them were caused by Ureaplasma urealyticum (25.7 %), 2 by Micoplasma hominis (1.4 %) and 19 by the aerobic bacteria (13.8 %). When making a comparison of the qualitative and quantitative variables of the semen from infected and non-infected subjects, there were not any statistically significant differences in the evaluated variables of the sperm quality. Conclusions: the total frequency of infections in the studied sample was relatively high, but was not associated to altered seminal variables.

Keywords : seminal infection; sperm quality; male infertility.

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