MALE INFERTILITY

Infertility primarily refers to the biological inability of a man or a woman to contribute to conception. Infertility may also refer to the state of a woman who is unable to carry a pregnancy to full term. There are many biological causes of infertility, some which may be bypassed with medical intervention.

Women who are fertile experience a natural period of fertility before and during ovulation, and they are naturally infertile during the rest of the menstrual cycle. Fertility awareness methods are used to discern when these changes occur by tracking changes in cervical mucus or basal body temperature.

Oligospermia stands for low semen volume and is often mistaken for Oligospermia, which means few "animals" (spermatozoa) in semen - a medical symptom of low sperm count affecting men. Oligozoospermia is now related to samples with less than 20 million spermatozoa per ml of ejaculate. Oligospermia has many different causes, as many different medical conditions can reduce sperm concentration. The effects of these causes may be temporary or permanent.

It should be noted that although Oligospermia is now commonly defined as a concentration less than 20 million per ml, originally it merely meant a low count of sperm was observed. The usefulness of this definition alone is controversial as count per ml is affected by ejaculate volume, which is independent of testis function and rate of sperm production.

WHEN TO SEEK MEDICAL ADVICE?