1Hamida MA Gohar and ²Fahmy SI.

Departments of ¹Medical Microbiology & Immunology, and ²Andrology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt.

Several reports have documented an association between high levels of white blood cells in semen and male infertility. The identification and quantification of white blood cells in semen would be of value in both diagnosis and treatment of male infertility; so, the detection of white blood cells in semen should be a part of every infertility work up. That brought about the need of a rapid, easy to perform, easy to interpret, and inexpensive method for verifying all semen samples provided to an infertility clinic. In the present study four simple methods for detection of white blood cells in semen were compared; peroxidase test, Cytur test, Combur-9 test and Testsimplets. 120 infertile patients were included in the study. For every patient, expressed prostatic secretion (EPS) was examined for the presence of leukocytes. The presence of more than 10 leukocytes per HPF was considered as evidence of infection. Stained smears were performed for all semen and EPS samples. Results of the above four mentioned tests were compared in the patients with increased round cell count. Peroxidase test showed a sensitivity of 67.6% and a specificity of 100%. Cytur test showed a sensitivity of 38.2% and a specificity of 100%. Combur-9 test showed a sensitivity of 32.4% and a specificity of 100%. Testsimplets showed a sensitivity of 67.6% and a specificity of 91.7%. In conclusion, these tests showed low sensitivity and high specificity. Since the peroxidase test gave the best results among them and due to its simplicity and cost effectiveness, the test is most suited for clinical application.