Frequency of Anti-Mycoplasma hominis Antibodies in Infertile Women Referred to Al-Zahra Hospital in Tabriz , Iran

Background and Objectives: Infertility is one of the important causes of anxiety in couples. Infections caused by genital Mycoplasmas may have harmful effects on the reproductive health of women, and sometimes lead to infertility. This study was designed to determine frequency of anti-Mycoplasma hominis antibodies in infertile women at Al-Zahra Hospital, Tabriz, Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, serum from 184 infertile women and 100 healthy pregnant women were tested for presence of M. hominis IgM and IgG antibodies by ELISA. Data collected were analyzed in SPSS (version 17) using t-test at significance level of 0.05. Results: The frequency of anti-M. hominis IgG was significantly higher in infertile women compared to healthy controls. The frequency of anti-M. hominis IgM did not differ significantly between the infertile and control subjects. The majority of the women infected with the bacterium were in the 21-30 and 31-40 years age range. There was no significant correlation between tubal factor infertility and seropositivity for M. hominis antibodies. Moreover, the dwelling of the participants had no relationship with the frequency of anti-M. hominis antibodies. Conclusion: The frequency of infertile women infected with this bacterium is high in Tabriz. Therefore, it is important to perform microbial screening for this bacterium in infertile couples.