[Correlation of Mycoplasma genitalium infection with male infertility]

To explore the correlation of Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) infection with male infertility.

Totally, 27 314 males with infertility and 200 fertile sperm donors underwent MG and routine seminal examinations. The infertile men were divided into azoospermia, oligozoospermia, asthenozoospermia, oligoasthenospermia, and normal semen quality groups based on the results of seminal examination, the 27 286 of them with age data into eight age groups (<21, 21－25, 26－30, 31－35, 36－40, 41－45, 46－50 and ≥51 years old), and the 9 058 with definite diagnosis into primary and secondary infertility groups. Fifty-six cases of MG infection among the infertile males were treated with antibiotics for 2 weeks and examined for changes of the semen parameters.

Compared with the normal controls, the oligozoospermia patients showed a significantly higher rate of MG infection (0.50% vs 3.62%, P = 0.024), the highest in the ≥51 yr group (3.68%, P = 0.021), followed by the 21－25 yr group (3.00%, P = 0.048), and so did the infertile males (3.64%, P = 0.011), the men with primary infertility (3.73%, P = 0.010) and those with secondary infertility (3.57%, P = 0.015). MG infection was found to be associated with oligozoospermia (OR = 7.471, 95% CI: 1.001－55.784), primary infertility (OR = 7.704, 95% CI: 1.073－55.309) and secondary infertility (OR = 7.362, 95% CI: 1.026－52.837) but not with the age of the patients. Both sperm concentration and sperm count were significantly lower in the infected men before treatment than in the non-infection group after treatment (P < 0.05).

MG infection is related to male infertility and reduces the semen volume and sperm concentration, but does not affect sperm motility.