Increased prevalence of leukocytes and elevated cytokine levels in semen from Schistosoma haematobium-infected individuals

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the seminal inflammatory response to egg infestation of the urogenital organs in 240 semen-donating men aged 15-49 years living in a Schistosoma haematobium-endemic area of Madagascar. In 29 subjects (12%) with excretion of ≥5 ova/ejaculate, leukocytospermia (>10 6 leukocytes/mL) and the presence of seminal lymphocytes and eosinophil leukocytes were each significantly more prevalent than in 74 subjects (31%) who were S. haematobium negative (P