Sperm Infections and Temporary Infertility

In the sperm analysis, measuring the concentration of leukocytes present in the sample is part of the routine. If this quantity exceeds one million leukocytes per ml, there’s an alteration named leukocytosis, and a sperm culture is performed, to confirm the presence of a bacterial infection.

Male fertility evaluation

If the man is beginning a fertility treatment and the results of these analyses are positive for infection, the detection of the infectious agent and its elimination are needed before beginning the assisted reproduction treatment. Since the body suffers from an infection, the seminal parameters may be affected and not be representative, which means that it can't be decided which technique is better.

Bacteria can be located in any organ of the seminal tract, such as the testicles, causing orchiditis, in the epididymis, causing epididymitis, or in the prostate, causing prostatitis.

If there’s an infection at any point of the seminal tract, during the displacement of spermatozoa and seminal fluids there will be a contact between the infected area and the gametes, which could alter their capacity of fertilising the egg.

Sterility causes due to an infection

An infection in the reproductive tract may cause a reduction of the fertility, due to several reasons:

• Obstruction of the seminal tract: can provoke oligozoospermia, since it prevents the spermatozoa from being expelled normally.
• Astenozoospermia: the infection may cause adherences that reduce the motility of spermatozoa and difficult their displacement to the egg.
• Changes in the morphology of spermatozoa: the spermatozoa are continuously being produced in the testicles, process that lasts 60-75 days. If there’s an infection that affects spermatogenesis, the formation of the spermatozoa, it can produce an alteration of the shape of the spermatozoa, which reflexes genetics.
• Increase in the spermatic DNA fragmentation: the DNA chains that can be found in the head of the spermatozoa are modified, suffering small cuts, which seems to have a negative impact in fertilisation and in the implantation capacity of the embryo, if formed.
• The production of anti-spermatic antibodies increases: which causes the agglutination of the spermatozoa and reduces the likelihood of fertilising the egg.
• It can infect the reproductive organs of the woman, since it can propagate through the sperm.

Treatment of the seminal infections

The way of preventing the complications that an infection can cause is, firstly, the consumption of antibiotics for a while, to eliminate the bacterial agents. Before beginning the ovarian stimulation, if being treated, the experts will wait for the seminal leukocytes levels to return to normality, to avoid the problems that have been mentioned previously in this article.

If the infection was severe, because it hasn’t been eliminated during its first stage through antibiotics, a surgical intervention may be needed to repair the damage. In acute processes, not stopping the infection in time might cause an irreversible sterility.