Analysis of Chlamydia trachomatis infection of the male genital tract from fertile and infertile patients and its consequences in seminal quality

Mar del Plata

Congreso; LXVI Reunión Anual de SAI, LXIII Reunión Anual de la SAIC, Reunión Anual de la SAFIS, IX Reunión Anual de la NANOMEDAR, Reunión Anual de la SAV; 2018

Urogenital infection and inflammation have been implicated in 8-35% of male infertility cases worldwide. Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is the most common bacterial cause of sexually transmitted diseases. Untreated CT infections in women are well known causes of infertility. However, whether CT infection of the male urogenital tract (MUT) is detrimental to sperm quality and male fertility is still controversial. Herein, we analyzed the impact of CT infection of the MUT on semen quality parameters in a population of fertile and infertile patients.Semen samples were collected from a total of 1345 fertile and infertile men attending a fertility clinic. Infertility was diagnosed as the failure to achieve a clinical pregnancy after one year or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. Patients infected with other common uropathogens were excluded. Semen samples were obtained by masturbation and CT infection assessed by PCR. Semen pH and volume, and sperm concentration, viability, motility, morphology and leukocytospermia were analyzed. A multivariate analysis of principal components, conglomerate analysis and non-parametric tests were used for statistical analysis. By means of the multivariate analysis of the seminal parameters under study, it was observed that non-infected patient groups, both fertile and infertile, stratified differently from CT-infected patient groups. Moreover, CT-infected fertile patients stratified differently from CT-infected infertile patients. Regarding semen quality variables, no major significant differences were detected among groups under analysis. Low sperm viability levels were only found in CT-infected infertile patients with respect to non-infected infertile patients (p<0.05). On the other hand, decreased normal sperm morphology was only detected in CT-infected fertile patients with respect to non-infected fertile patients (p<0.05).Our results suggest that male urogenital CT infection does not significantly compromises semen quality. Differences found between fertile and infertile CT-infected patients in the multivariate analysis could not be attributed to the presence of the infection only.