Review of clinical manifestations and impact of parasitic protozoan infections on human reproductive health

Abstract

Parasitic protozoan infections that affect reproductive health are being increasingly recognized as a serious global health problem with impact on individual women and men, their families and communities. The infections can have severe consequences, including infertility, ectopic pregnancy, chronic pelvic pain, miscarriage, and increased risk of HIV transmission. Some affect both men and women, and can also be transmitted from mothers to children during pregnancy and childbirth. These infections affect more than just reproductive health, the resultant morbidity also affects the economic productivity and quality of life of many individual women and men, and consequently, of whole communities, regions and countries. The review intents to re-focus the attention of health professionals on this subject by shedding light on these unjustly neglected parasitoses commonly considered of low public health importance. Many of these parasitic infections have been forgotten and have become the neglected diseases often overlooked and rarely a high priority globally