High incidence of oligozoospermia and teratozoospermia in human semen infected with the aerobic bacterium Streptococcus faecalis

• Published in: Reproductive biomedicine online Vol. 5; no. 1; pp. 17 - 21
• Main Authors: Mehta, RH, Sridhar, H, Kumar, BR Vijay, Kumar, TC Anand
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier Ltd 2002
• Subjects: Adult; bacterial infection; Enterococcus faecalis; human semen; Humans; Incidence; infertility; Infertility, Male - epidemiology; Infertility, Male - microbiology; Male; Oligospermia - epidemiology; Oligospermia - microbiology; Semen - microbiology; Spermatozoa - abnormalities; Streptococcal Infections - complications; Streptococcus faecalis; human semen; bacterial infection; infertility; Streptococcus faecalis
• ISSN: 1472-6483; 1472-6491
• DOI: 10.1016/S1472-6483(10)61591-X

Bacterial culture of semen samples from 100 male partners in infertile couples revealed the presence of aerobic bacteria in 49 cases. Streptococcus faecalis ( Enterococcus) was isolated from 53%, micrococci species from 20% and α-haemolytic streptococci from 16% of the infected samples. The incidence of oligozoospermia and teratozoospermia was significantly ( P < 0.05) higher in men whose semen samples contained S. faecalis than those whose semen samples contained micrococci or α-haemolytic streptococci or those that did not contain bacteria. The mean sperm concentration, as well as the mean percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa, was significantly ( P < 0.03) lower in semen infected with S. faecalis compared with that containing micrococci or α-haemolytic streptococci and the uninfected samples. There is a high incidence of semen infection with S. faecalis, and it is associated with compromised semen quality in terms of sperm concentration and morphology. The presence of micrococci or α-haemolytic streptococci does not appear to have any detrimental effect on sperm quality.