Common causes of male infertility
Infertility is far from being a female only problem. As a general rule, in about one-third of cases, infertility is due to a cause involving only the male partner, in another one-third of cases, infertility is due to causes involving both the male and female and in the remaining one-third of cases, infertility is due to a cause involving only the female partner.
There are many causes of male infertility. It is usually caused by producing lower than normal levels of sperm or no sperm; having a blockage in the reproductive tract; abnormalities in the morphology (structure) of the sperm or in the motility of the sperm.
These can be divided into three types:
- Those a man is born with (congenital)
- Those he develops throughout his life (acquired)
- Other/unknown causes