In 1983, during the earliest days of AIDS research, Deborah Anderson and her colleagues in Boston, Massachusetts hypothesized that AIDS was transmitted by virallyinfected "Trojan horse leukocytes" in semen [1]. This prediction has been supported by numerous studies over the past two decades, although many questions remain concerning HIV infection of the male genital tract. In this issue of AIDS...

Background: Male reproductive disorders that are of interest from an environmental point of view include sexual dysfunction, infertility, cryptorchidism, hypospadias and testicular cancer. Several reports suggest declining sperm counts and increase of these reproductive disorders in some areas during some time periods past 50 years. Materials and Methods: Except for testicular cancer this evide...

Hypospadias is the most common anomaly in the male genital tract with an incidence of 0.8-8.2 per 1000 live male births. Routinely, hypospadias cases are repaired after one year of age, and it is recommended that a child with hypospadias not to be circumcised until hypospadias repair is completed. This study was conducted to determine whether or not circumcision prior to hypospadias repair incr...

Despite semen being the main vector of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) dissemination worldwide, the origin of the virus in this bodily fluid remains unclear. It was recently shown that several organs of the male genital tract (MGT) are infected by HIV/simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and likely to contribute to semen viral load during the primary and chronic stages of the infection. These...

Bacteria, parasites, viruses and fungi are some important clinical pathogens that may cause the microbial infections of male reproductive tracts, and also interfere with the reproductive function in male [2]. 15% of the cases of male infertility are due to reproductive tract inflammations and infections [3]. Several organs of the male reproductive system, such as male accessory sex glands, test...