Infertility is a disease of reproductive that impairs one of the body's most basic function: the conception of children. Conception is a complicated process that depends on many factors: The production of healthy sperm by man and healthy eggs by woman, unblocked fallopian tubes that allows sperm to reach egg, the sperm's ability to reach the egg, the sperm's ability to fertilize the egg when they meet, the ability of the fertilized egg (embryo) to become implanted in a woman's uterus, a good quality embryo etc. For the pregnancy to continue to full term, the embryo must be healthy and the woman's hormonaI environment adequate for its deveIopment. When any one of these factors is impaired, infertility can result. A couple is considered infertile if the woman does not conceive a child after one of unprotected well-timed intercourse or she has been unable to carry a pregnancy to a life birth. There are two types of infertility: primary and secondary infertility.
Primary Infertility
Every month a couple has basically 1 in 4 chance of conceiving. In a woman's lifetime she will normally produce 4 to 5 thousand eggs. Eight of these eggs are recruited each month and only one is brought to maturity and relesead into the fallopian tube,the order seven deteriorate and die. That one egg only lives from 24-36 hour after it is released. Once the egg is not fertilized by the sperm (which can live up to 72 hours inside a woman) within this period, the egg will deteriorate and die within two weeks the uterine lining will shed and a woman will have a menstrual cycle.
If a man is not able to impregnate his wife or the woman has not been able to conceive in spite of both of them having unprotected sex for a year (6 month for woman above 35) then they are said to have primary infertility.
Secondary Infertility
Women who have become pregnant at least once, but are unable to conceive again or men who had fathered a child but are unable thereafter, are said to have "secondary infertility".
Secondary infertility is the inability to conceive after one or more unsuccessful pregnancies. The medical causes are similar to those of primary infertility. Many couples with secondary infertility often disregard their inability to give birth to another child because they are often not sure about whether they do have a problem. They think that since they had done it before, they just need to keep on trying hoping to achieve what they have achieved earlier.
The phenomenon in which a woman can conceive but cannot carry a pregnancy to the full term is called pregnancy failure or miscarriage.This is an extended definition of infertility. The medical term for a miscarriage is an abortion.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited