**6. Prevalence of local genital tract infections among infertile women**

Since a long time, many studies clearly demonstrated that genital tract infections would decrease fertility of women. For instance, in a previous study [4], 92 infertile women were compared with 86 pregnant controls regarding rates of isolation of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Candida albicans, Trichomonas vaginalis and other facultative organisms. They found that the rate of isolation of Neisseria gonorrheae was 17.4% among infertile women compared with 10.5% in the group of pregnant women (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference between the groups in the rate of isolation of Candida albicans, Trichomonas vaginalis and other facultative organisms. High rates of isolation of microorganisms were observed in both groups. However, women with secondary infertility had higher rate of carriage of Neisseria gonor‐ rheae, Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus as compared with women with primary infertility. Nearly 15% of infertile women had previous episodes of pelvic inflammatory disease and 26% had had induced abortions. A positive history of vaginal discharge was a poor predictor of vagina and endocervical carriage of microorganisms. They concluded that high rates of pathogenic organisms exist in the lower genital tract of infertile women and controls. Women with secondary infertility are more likely to have pathogenic organisms than women with primary infertility and recommended routine screening for this group of infertile women.
