日本性感染症学会誌 Journal of Japanese Society for Sexually Transmitted Infections

The cause of male infertility may be related to genital infections, such as human papillomavirus (HPV), Mycoplasma, or Ureaplasma in 8%–35% of the cases. We collected DNA from first-void urine and semen specimens from male partners of infertile couples (n=77) and screened the samples for HPV, Mycoplasma genitalium, Mycoplasma hominis, and Ureaplasma spp. by polymerase chain reaction. Among 77 patients, the DNA detection rates of HPV, M. genitalium, M. hominis and Ureaplasma spp. from first-void urine or semen samples were 6.49% (n=5), 6.49% (n=5), 3.90% (n=3), and 14.30% (n=11), respectively. Strong agreement between semen and corresponding urine specimens was identified with regard to the detection of M. hominis, Ureaplasma spp., and HPV, (kappa coefficient [K]=1.0, 0.673, and 0.737, respectively). No significant difference in DNA detection rates was observed between patients with azoospermia (n=22) and those without (n=55). However, non-azoospermia patients with PCR-confirmed HPV infection (n=3) had significantly lower sperm concentration (median, 2.00×10⁶/ml vs. 20.6×10⁶/ml; P=0.0261) and sperm motility (median 13.0% vs. 50.0%; P=0.0328) than HPV PCR-negative patients (n=52). In asymptomatic infertile men, HPV in semen may affect sperm concentration and sperm motility.