THE EFFECT OF POSITIVE SEMEN BACTERIAL AND UREAPLASMA CULTURES ON IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION SUCCESS

A total of 342 couples planning to undergo in-vitro fertilization (IVF ) were examined for the presence of bacteria in semen prior to and dur ing the procedure, Pregnancy rates were analysed retrospectively to as certain any adverse affects if >10 000 colony forming units (CFU)/ml b acteria were detected in the semen sample, The most common bacteria is olated from semen were Enterococcus spp, (73%). The presence of these bacteria did not affect the pregnancy rate of the patients with positi ve cultures prior to (32%) or during (37%) the IVF procedure compared with those patients in whom no bacteria were detected (32%), Those pat ients with semen cultures positive for Escherichia coli prior to the I VF procedure, but which cleared after treatment had a higher pregnancy rate (60%) compared with those patients who were positive for E,coli at the time of the attempt. The group of patients with Staphylococcus aureus in the semen at the time of IVF also demonstrated a low pregnan cy rate (17%), Of the patients, 36 (11%) had positive Ureaplasma cultu res from the screening test carried out on the semen and 22% became pr egnant after successful treatment. None of the three patients with per sistently positive cultures became pregnant. In conclusion, the presen ce of Enterococcus in semen does not affect pregnancy rates following IVF, E.coli, S,aureus and Ureaplasma urealyticum may have a negative e ffect and should be treated.