Microbiological Analysis of Semen Samples in Male Partners of Couples Attending a Fertility Clinic in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Jaipur

Abstract

Background: The natural capability to produce offspring is termed as fertility. As the growing world is flourishing with modern means and advances in technology, there is a sharp fall in the birth rate all over. Many developing countries including India are now struggling with this issue. Bacterial infection of the male genitourinary tract is one of the key factors responsible for male infertility. These pathogenic bacteria induce an alteration in semen parameters, such as sperm count, morphology, and motility which are predictors of male fertility potential. Material and Methods: This is a retrospective descriptive observational study and includes culture reports of 388 semen samples of adult men attending the infertility clinics over a 3-year study period. Sample inoculation was done on culture media plates and incubated for 18–24 h at 37°C. Culture identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing were done using VITEK 2-automated system. Result: Eighty-one samples showed growth of single isolate and were further processed. The majority of the patients were 26–30 years of age, followed by 31–35 years. Gram-positive isolates outnumbered the gram-negative isolates (58% vs. 42.0%). The antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of gram-negative isolates showed maximum resistance against third-generation cephalosporins (70.6%), followed by cotrimoxazole (54.5%) and flouroquinolones (50.0%). Amongst gram-positive isolates, high degree of resistance was observed against tetracycline (89.4%) and fluoroquinolones (72.3%). Conclusion: Urogenital infections in males have been found to be associated with a reduction in fertility. Though these patients may be completely asymptomatic, these infections are known to reduce the sperm counts and motility. Proper bacteriological profiling of these patients is thus an important part of diagnostic workup.

Keywords

• infertility
• ivf (in-vitro fertilization)
• semen