Male infertility and chlamydia

New research has shown that chlamydia can make men infertile by damaging the quality of their sperm.

A chlamydia infection can remain undetected due to the absence of symptoms and has long been known to threaten female fertility. It now appears that it can present similar risks for men.

Men with chlamydia have three times the normal number of sperm with genetic damage. This damage can impair their ability to have children.

Chlamydia is easily treated with antibiotics, which can reverse the effect of sperm damage and dramatically increase the chances of pregnancy.

Before treatment can begin, a chlamydia test needs to be taken to confirm the infection.

It is now possible to take a chlamydia home test.

Chlamydia screening should be more effectively targeted at young men, who think that they only need to be tested if they have symptoms. But symptoms are often absent or quickly fade.

Cases of chlamydia have increased by more than 200% in England in the last ten years. Chlamydia is getting out of control. Men as well as women need to be encouraged to go for screening.

In the study, sperm samples were taken from 193 men seeking fertility treatment with their partners.

143 were infected with chlamydia and 50 were uninfected and served as healthy controls.

During the early stages of antibiotic treatment only 12.5% of the couples conceived but, when therapy was complete, 85.7% had achieved a pregnancy.

Successful treatment of the male partners is more likely to have been responsible for this effect because men produce new sperm so quickly and in such abundance that removing the infection would rapidly improve the quality of the sperm.

For more information on the chlamydia home test click here