Chlamydia trachomatis urogenital infection does not appear to deteriorate seminal quality in semen in young patients

PAIRA, DANIELA A.; OLIVERA, CAROLINA; SILVERA-RUIZ, SILENE M.; TISSERA, ANDREA D.; MOLINA, ROSA I.; OLMEDO, JOSE J.; MOTRICH, RUBEN D.

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Reunión de Sociedades de Biociencias 2021; 2021

Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is the most prevalent sexually transmitted bacterial infection worldwide. Although CT urogenital infection and associated pathology has been widely described in females, the study of male urogenital infection has been neglected. Herein, we analyzed the prevalence of CT urogenital infection, its association with other uropathogens, and its consequences on seminal inflammatory markers and sperm quality from young males. A cohort of 140 male patients, aged 20-49 y.o., attending a reproduction and andrology clinic were prospectively enrolled. Semen samples were collected by masturbation and semen analysis performed according to the WHO manual. Infections by CT, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), M. hominis (MH), Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 and 2 (HSV1 and 2), U. urealyticum (UU), T. vaginalis, M. genitalium (MG), T. pallidum and N. gonorrhoeae were assessed by PCR. ROS levels and leukocyte subpopulations were analyzed by flow cytometry, and inflammatory cytokines quantitated by ELISA. Statistical analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. A prevalence of CT, UU, MH and MG infection of 33.6%, 18.0%, 10.0% and 7.2% was found, respectively. The other uropathogens showed to be much less prevalent. Patients infected with CT alone or co-infected with HSV2 showed neither significant alterations in most of the sperm quality parameters analyzed nor increased inflammatory biomarkers in semen (p˃0.05). Noteworthy, CT-infection was associated with significantly reduced levels of ROS in semen (p<0.05). On the contrary, patients co-infected with CT and MG showed a significant reduced levels of sperm viability (p<0.05) and increased frequencies of necrotic sperm (p<0.001), not associated to leukocytospermia. Our results revealed a high prevalence of CT-infection in young men from our region. Although, CT infection does not significantly impair sperm quality, men would provide a reservoir for continuous transmission of the infection.