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In this study, we investigated the prevalence of Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis infection among 250 unselected infertile men, the presence of urogenital symptoms in infected men and the effects of these microorganisms on the conventional sperm parameters. Urethral samples were obtained using a swab inserted 3-4 cm into the urethral meatus. Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis were detected by the kit Mycofast R evolution 3 Elitech Microbiology (Elitech Microbiology, Signes, France). Ureaplasma urealyticum was detected in 15.6% of the cases and Mycoplasma hominis in 3.6%. One patients had a co-infection with both pathogens. About 41% of the infertile patients with mycoplasma infection had urogenital symptoms. A lower number of patients with mycoplasma infection had normal sperm parameters compared with non-infected infertile men, but this frequency showed only a trend compared to non-infected patients (Chi-square=3.61; P=0.057), and a significantly higher percentage of patients with oligo-astheno-teratozoospermia (Chi-square=127.3; P<0.0001), or asthenozoospermia alone (Chi-square=5.74; P<0.05) compared to non-infected infertile patients. In conclusion, this study showed an elevated prevalence of Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis infection in unselected men attending an infertility outpatient clinic and that the presence of these microorganisms is associated with a higher percentage of patients with abnormal sperm parameters.

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Micromanipulation of mouse gametes with a commercially available compact laser microbeam system was studied. Both the normal in-vitro fertilization (IVF) group and the laser zona dissection (LZD) group were tested under normal (2 x 10(6) motile spermatozoa/ml) and low (500,000 motile spermatozoa/ml) insemination conditions. Subzonal insemination (SUZI) was also tried in a small group of gametes and the results were compared with those of the low insemination groups. Fertilization rates and blastocyst formation rates for the IVF and the LZD-treated groups were respectively 53 and 60% and 60 and 78%, which were not significantly different. However, under low insemination conditions, the results were significantly better in the LZD-treated group (58% fertilization rate and 83% blastocyst formation rate) compared to the results of the IVF group (33 and 48%) (P < 0.05). The SUZI-treated group showed the lowest fertilization rate (18%). No significant difference between the LZD and the IVF group was observed with respect to parthenogenetic activation. LZD has a beneficial effect on fertilization rates in cases of reduced sperm quality.

No studies have evaluated the ultrasound features of the male sex accessory glands in infertile patients with bacterial male accessory gland infection (MAGI) according to the microbiological outcomes of bacterial cultures (absent, partial or complete) following antibiotic therapy administration. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the ultrasound characteristics of the prostate, seminal vesicles, and epididymal tracts after treatment with levofloxacin (a common quinolone antibiotic), in patients with infections caused by Escherichia coli (a Gram-negative bacterium) according to the Naber's classification, which includes the following categories: eradication, eradication with superinfection, persistence and persistence with superinfection. The study was conducted in 100 patients aged 2568 years (range: 20-40 years) with bacterial MAGI and bacterial cultures positive only for E. coli (colony forming units o10 6 per ml). Retrospective analysis was conducted only on patients treated with oral levofloxacin (500 mg) administered once daily for 28 days who were recruited over the last 5 years. Following antibiotic treatment, patients with microbiological persistence or persistence with superinfection had a significantly higher percentage of ultrasound abnormalities suggestive of prostato-vesiculitis (PV) (30.2% and 36.0%, respectively) or prostato-vesiculo-epididymitis (PVE) (60.2% and 70.0%, respectively) compared with patients with microbiological eradication (PV510.2% and PVE58.2%, respectively) or eradication with superinfection (PV518.8% and PVE521.2%, respectively). In conclusion, patients with microbiological persistence or persistence plus superinfection showed the highest prevalence of complicated forms of MAGI (PV and PVE), compared with patients with microbiological eradication or eradication with superinfection.