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Genital Ureaplasma urealyticum infection in varicocele-related infertility
1Department of Urology, First Teaching Hospital, Beijing Medical University, China.
Objective:
To assess the existence of a possible infectious factor in varicocele-related infertility.
Methods:
A total of 925 seminal plasmas from 590 infertile men with varicocele and 335 infertile patients without palpable varicocele were cultured for Ureaplasma urealyticum infection, and routine semen analysis was made.
Results:
The infection rate of Ureaplasma urealyticum in seminal plasmas was 48.22%. The asymptomatic genital infection of Ureaplasma urealyticum was traced in 329 (55.76%) varicocele men and 117 (34.93%) infertile patients without varicocele (control group). A significant quantitative difference in the incidence of genital Ureaplasma urealyticum infection between the varicocele and control group was observed (P < 0.005) and asthenozoospermia was significantly more prevalent in the patients with varicocele than in the other patients (P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
Genital Ureaplasma urealyticum infection may play a role in varicocele-related infertility. To prevent future infertility, men with both varicocele and genital Ureaplasma urealyticum infection may benefit from early evaluation and treatment.