Chlamydia in men affects fertility

Chlamydia, a common sexually transmitted disease and known cause of infertility in women can also reduce a man's chance of fathering a child. Men should be aware that they can contract the infection and they should get tested and treated for it. In a collaborative study at Sweden's Umea University Hospital of 244 couples treated for infertility, the researchers discovered that a quarter of the women and a fifth of the men tested positive for antibodies that are a marker of chlamydia infection. After following the couples for an average three years, the researchers found that antibodies for chlamydia were inversely associated to the overall pregnancy rate. Men with the antibodies had a 33 percent lower rate of fertility than those without them. Because the illness often has no symptoms, about 70 percent of women and 50 percent of men do not know they have it. The illness can be easily treated with antibiotics. If it is diagnosed and treated, it causes no lasting problems in women. But recurrent and severe infections can result in infertility, ectopic pregnancy, pelvic inflammatory disease and pain. Babies exposed to the infection during birth may develop an eye infection or pneumonia. It is not known how chlamydia causes male infertility but it is believed that it may have an impact on sperm but other mechanisms, and infections, could also be involved. The researchers suggest routine testing for men and women undergoing fertility treatment since an estimated one in six couples suffers from infertility.

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