Infectious Burden and Semen Parameters

Abstract Objectives. To investigate the relationship between chronic infections detected in serum and semen quality. The pathogen burden is a concept consisting in the observation that, in patients with heart disease, damaging effects of the coronary arteries increase concomitantly with the number of agents responsible of chronic infections to which patients mounted a serological response. Previous observations that H. pylori infection may reduce the semen quality prompted us to perform the present study. Methods. Blood and semen samples were collected from 73 selected men, enrolled during January 2014 - January 2015. Semen characteristics were evaluated by light and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TEM data were quantified with a mathematical formula providing numerical scores , such as fertility index (FI, number of sperm free from ultrastructural defects) and the percentages of sperm apoptosis, immaturity and necrosis. Serum samples were examined by ELISA for the presence of IgG to the most common agents of chronic infections such as H. pylori (HP), Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) and Chlamydophila pneumoniae (CP), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), cytomegalovirus (CMV). Results. The prevalence of infections was as follows: HP 43.8%, CP 46.6%, MP 72.6%, EBV 95.9%, HSV-1 74.0% and CMV 46.6%. Concomitantly with the increased number of pathogens against which the patients mounted a significant antibody response, sperm concentration (P