Bacteriospermia: An Etiology of Oligospermia

Abstract

Semen analysis is known to be important in determining male fertility and also in assessing infertility in men. Both primary and secondary infertility in male have various causes. One very important part of altered semen profile is the quantity of semen ejaculated and the quality of sperm cells in the ejaculate. Oligospermia is the most common cause of poor semen profile and bacteriospermia has been observed as one of the major causes of infertility in men. This study aimed at determining the relationship between bacteriospermia and oligospermia. In this cross-sectional study, 200 semen samples were collected for further analysis and cultured according to the standard laboratory methods. Semen samples were collected after 3-4 days of sexual abstinence in aseptic condition in a clean, dry, sterile and leak-proof container. The result gotten showed that out of 200 semen samples analyzed 64(32%) were oligospermic. The most common infective organism causing bacteriospermia in oligospermic semen isolated on culture was Staphylococcus aureus with prevalence of 26.6%. There was a non-significant negative correlation between bacteriospermia and oligospermia. This study has shown that bacteriospermia does not have any relationship with oligospermia as bacteriospermia affected more normospermic semen than oligospermic group. However, the study also showed that the most common bacteria causing bacteriospermia is Staphylococcal aureus followed by Escherichia coli.