Microbial infections causing infertility

  Mycoplasma is a class of prokaryotic microorganisms, between bacteria and viruses in size. There are three species of mycoplasma pathogenic to humans, of which Mycoplasma solium is a common pathogen of the human genitourinary tract and is associated with many genitourinary tract infections, perinatal infections and infertility, and is one of the pathogens of sexually transmitted diseases.  Mycoplasma is widely distributed in nature. In addition to humans, many animals such as cats, cattle, chickens, dogs, ducks, sheep, horses, rats, monkeys, pigs, and pigeons, as well as insects and plants, are capable of carrying and storing this pathogen.  Both Mycoplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma histolytica can be transmitted from mother to infant via the obstructive tract delivery process. 4% of human mycoplasma is isolated from the reproductive tract of infants before the age of 1 year; 6% of male infants and 38% of female infants have Mycoplasma urealyticum. Mycoplasma in the genital tract decreases rapidly with age. Mycoplasma can rarely be isolated from the genitourinary tract in adolescent boys, while the isolation rate for Mycoplasma decidua in girls is 27% and for Mycoplasma humanum is 5%. However, after puberty, the rate of mycoplasma isolation from the genital tract gradually increases, and becomes more significant after sexual intercourse.  In China, scholars conducted a total of 2181 cases of culture of Mycoplasma solani in infertile couples, and there were 1203 cases of infection, accounting for 55.16%. Among them, 511 cases (42.48%) were men and 692 cases (57.52%) were women. This shows the prevalence of infection of this pathogen in infertile couples in China.  The patient can develop symptoms of urethritis after mycoplasma infection through the urethra, and can develop chronic prostatitis secondary to it. When the prostate fluid is examined, a lively, swimming community of microorganisms is seen. Mycoplasma also continues to infect the seminal tract, seminal vesicles and testes, affecting the quality of sperm and semen and causing infertility.  Mycoplasma has been observed to cause infertility through the following links: 1. Interference with sperm motility: Sperm motility is an important function of healthy sperm and is an important indicator of whether sperm can be conceived, and sperm motility must have a certain speed and frequency. Mycoplasma infected sperm, often attached to the head and tail of the sperm, so that the entire sperm hung with attachments of varying sizes, resulting in sperm swimming weak, entangled with each other, leading to infertility.  2, sperm deformation rate increases: mycoplasma infection leads to an increase in sperm deformation rate is another feature that causes infertility. According to clinical observation, the sperm deformity rate can sometimes be as high as 80% in such infertility patients.  3, destruction of spermatogenic cells: The testes have a large number of spermatogenic cells in the varicocele, which develop and reproduce to form sperm. When mycoplasma enters the testicular varicose duct from the urethra and prostate, it will destroy the sperm cells and make the “sperm factory” produce shoddy products, leading to infertility.