Infertility is divided into two types according to the main sexes. Male infertility affects the males while female infertility affects the female. They both have different perspectives in terms of symptoms, diagnosis and possible remedies as such they are treated differently.
Male fertility
This is defined as the inability of the male to produce enough sperms to impregnate a mature woman. This should be viewed in the span of at least six months of habitual uncondomized sexual intercourse with the normal woman. Although male partners are responsible for about half the cases of infertility, the problem is sometimes attributed to the decline of infertility among men over 40 years of age.
The causes of male infertility are quite varied. They may include: exposure to toxic chemicals or radiation, taking frequent long hot baths in a tub; alcohol, tobacco or drug abuse and even severe mumps infection during one’s lifetime. Hereditary causes are attributed to Klinefelter’s syndrome. Some hormonal disorders of the testicles, thyroid glands, pituitary or adrenal glands may also contribute to the condition. When the genital organs are infected by a disease or a man wears jockey shorts kind of underwear every time, the sperm passages may be blocked leading to infertility.
The major symptom of male infertility is when the man fails to impregnate a woman after 6 months of regular unprotected sex. Diagnosis of this condition is normally very unpleasant and doctors may need to accompany it with counseling services.
Diagnosis entails delving into the patient’s medical history and getting all the details regarding their sexual past and medical conditions and prescriptions that they may have taken. Some tests like the vitro test or postcoital test may be performed on the patient to show chances of the sperm surviving in their partner and compatibility of the sperm to the partner’s egg respectively.
Treatment of male infertility may range from medication in form of hormones (to counter any hormonal imbalance and stimulate sperm production) and antibiotics (to clear any infections) to surgery.
Female infertility
Like the male counterpart, females also contribute to infertility by not conceiving. Female infertility has been attributed to many causes including settling down in marriage and trying to conceive at later ages. Statistics reveal that infertility in younger married women that is ages 16-20 is at 4.5% as compared to the 70% of infertility rates in married women who are above 40 years. Sexual intimacy with multiple partners has heightened the spread of sexually transmitted infections that cause infertility. Another cause is the use of contraceptives especially those of the intrauterine device form.
To treat infertility in women, infertility drugs for stimulating ovulation may be prescribed. Some of these drugs are Clompiphene and human chorionic gonadotropin. The usage of these drugs has often been accompanied by multiple births and while this is good for the infertile couples, it is also disadvantageous as there are high chances of losing some of these babies or giving birth to premature babies.
When other methods of treating infertility, there is also the option of surgical treatment and these may entail using assisted reproductive techniques such as invitro fertilization, gamete intrafallopian transfer and zygote intrafallopian transfer.
