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Infection Screening
Infections particularly chlamydia, mycoplasma and ureaplasma can last and recur for years. Such infections make it unsuitable for the embryos to implant or the pregnancy to continue.
Infections especially long lasting ones can agitate your immune system and make it over-reactive i.e. increase your natural cell and other immune components activity. The latter will make the environment in you uterus hostile for the embryos and the pregnancy. If the infection is enclosed in blocked tubes, they can cause hydrosalpinx, which means that the tube contains potentially infectious fluid. This reduces the chance of success by about 50%. In this case we prefer to remove the the tube with the hydrosalpinx. After assessing the situation down the laparoscope we either remove the tube completely, clip it near the uterus or make a hole in the tube to drain the potentially infectious fluid.
There are also other less obvious infections which can adversely affect your chances of getting pregnant. At The Fertility & Gynaecology Academy we do screening tests for such infections:
- Vaginal Swab: for bacterial vaginosis, gardenerella vaginalis, aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, mycoplasma and ureaplasma.
- Menstrual blood: for chlamydia using PCR technique (called the hidden C test by the patients). We can also check for mycoplasma and ureaplasma in the menstrual blood.
- Semen for culture and sensitivity: to test for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, mycoplasma and ureaplasma.
- Semen for Chlamydia.
Any infection is treated thoroughly by a combination of antibiotics. Further, the necessary tests are repeated in 3-6 weeks (based on the type and site of the infection) to confirm their successful treatment.