Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma genitalium detection and sperm quality: A cross-sectional study in Vietnam

( ) and ( ) may colonize the male genital tract. However, the negative effects of these bacteria on overall sperm quality, including semen pH, sperm concentration, motility, morphology, and total sperm count remain unclear. This study aimed to determine the presence of genital and in semen and evaluate the effect of these organisms on sperm quality. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 380 men from infertile couples at a tertiary university hospital from July 2017 to June 2018. Semen quality was analyzed according to the World Health Organization 2010 standard, and and were detected in the semen samples using polymerase chain reaction. 338 men (88.9%) presented with at least one abnormal semen parameter. The detection rates of and were 16.05% and 0.79%, respectively. There was no significant difference between the -positive group and the -negative group in terms of sperm characteristics. Sperm motility and sperm vitality in the positive group were much lower than those in the -negative group (p = 0.02 and p 0.001, respectively). The presence of in the semen of infertile men did not affect the sperm characteristics. Although the positive rate of was low, colonization by these bacteria was more likely to negatively affect sperm quality.