Lack of association between genital mycoplasmas and infertility

We studied the relation between colonization with Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum, and the results of infertility studies in 205 women with involuntary infertility of at least one year's duration. Isolation of M. hominis (but not of U. urealyticum) was significantly (P = 0.002) more common in patients with a history of pelvic inflammatory disease. However, no relation could be shown between these genital mycoplasmas and any of the following: evidence of prior pelvic inflammatory disease as determined by hysterosalpingography and laparoscopy; cervical inflammation; numbers and motility of spermatozoa on postcoital test; pyosemia; quality of cervical mucus; whether the cause of infertility was related to male or female factors, both, or neither; and occurrence and outcome of subsequent pregnancy. Mycoplasmas were cultured from only 10 of 203 endometrial biopsy specimens (4.9 per cent), and in no instance was inflammation associated with this finding. Out studies do not support a role for genital mycoplasmas in the cause of infertility.