CHARACTERIZING SEMINAL FLUID INDICES AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH BACTERIOSPERMIA IN INFERTILE MALE

Introduction: Infertility has been one of the main challenges on marriage stability in Africa. Bacteriospermia incidence is one of the main causes of male infertility. This study therefore aimed at characterizing seminal fluid indices and their correlation with bacteriospermia in normospermic, oligospermic and azoospermic infertile male.

Materials and Methods: Semen samples were collected from 244 infertile adult men attending the infertility Consultant out-patient Department, Federal Medical Centre, Owo over a period of two years after a 3-5 days abstinence period. All specimen collected were rapidly transferred to Microbiology Laboratory and processed according to the method of Cheesbrough, 1984. Standard analysis of semen parameters was performed according to world health organization guidelines. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used for comparison within the groups. Spearman correlation was used to test the association between variables. Statistical significance was determined as a p value < 0.05.

Results: The results indicated that 103 (42.21%) participants had normospermia, 110 (45.08%) oligospermia and 31 (12.71%) azoospermia. Staphylococcus aureus (69.3%) was the most common bacteria isolated followed by Klebsiellaspecies (6.6%) and Candida species (4.5%). The data generated from this study obviously shows a definite relationship between bacteriospermia and seminal fluid parameters showing its negative influence on sperm motility, morphology and sperm density.

Conclusion: The prevalence of abnormal sperm indices and bacterial infection is high with Staphylococcous aureus and Klebsiella species infections in this study which should be treated and no longer ignored in the management of male factor infertility.