Genital infection and infertility

BACKGROUND. Genital infection is the most important cause of infertility wo rldwide, affecting not only Fallopian tubes but all anatomic urogenital sit es, both male and female. METHODS. We present a randomized, prospective and normalized study about se xually transmitted diseases (STD). We include 487 patients, 376 of whom wer e infertile and the remaining 111 were not and act as control group. RESULTS. 47.3% of infertile patients showed at least one infection: 10.7% h ad Chlamydia trachomatis infection, whereas only 0.3% had gonococal infecti on. We found none syphilis. 12.9% of the patients showed yeast belonging to genus Candida, 5% bacterial vaginosis, 3.8% Escherichia coli and 0.3% Kleb siella pneumoniae. The percentage of isolation of Ureaplasma urealyticum an d Mycoplasma hominis were 23.5% and 4.8%, respectively. We detected antibod ies against Hepatitis B ( any serological marker) in 7.8% of the cases. Chl amydial infection and the presence of U. urealyticum were related with infe rtility (chi 1(2)=6,070, p<0.005 and <chi> 1(2)=8,782, p<0.005, respectivel y). CONCLUSIONS. We think these results conclude that is necessary to perform r outine tests to screen for C. trachomatis, N. gonorrhoeae, and for infectio ns caused by micoplasma as well, among infertile patients. These patients m ust be considered of being at risk of acquiring STD, since the percentage o f these diseases is higher than the percentage we found among the control g roup. It is important to insist on prevention and early diagnosis and treat ment as a main goal to decrease the number of tubal occlusion and infertile couples.