INFERTILITY. Infertility is the inability to naturally conceive a child or the inability to carry a pregnancy to term

Infertility is the inability to naturally conceive a child or the inability to carry a pregnancy to term. There are many reasons why a couple may not be able to conceive, or may not be able to conceive without medical assistance.

Infertility is one of the severe disorders both for male and female because both of them can hardly experience this state. It is necessary to differentiate absolute infertility when there are deep unreversable changes which make conceiving impossible and relative infertility when the causes giving it rise may be irradicated.

Besides one should distinguish primary and secondary infertility. Primary infertility is a disease when a female has never had pregnancies and secondary one is difficulty of conceiving after already having conceived and carried a normal pregnancy. Apart from various conditions (e.g. hormonal), this may come as a result of age and stress, impossibility to provide a sibling for their first child.

A couple considers to be infertile if:

· they have not conceived after 12 months or after 6 months if the woman is over 35 years of age.

· there is incapability to carry a pregnancy to term.

General factor relating to female infertility are diabetes mellitus, thyroid disorders, adrenal disease and common diseases such as significant liver, kidney insufficiency, different female sphere disorders, disturbances of genitourinary tract and various psychological factors.

Factors relating to male infertility include endocrine problems, hypothalamic disorders, genetic deffects, neoplasm, trauma, infectious diseases such as mumps, different psycological factors, indulgence to drugs, alcohol.

In the majority of cases of male infertility no clear cause can be identified with current diagnostic methods.

In some cases, both the man and woman may be infertile or sub-fertile, and the couple's infertility arises from the combination of these conditions. In other cases, the cause is suspected to be immunological or genetic; it may be that each partner is independently fertile but the couple cannot conceive together without assistance.