Received May 19, 2025
Accepted February 20, 2026

Objective: To detect presence of seminal HPV and examine its association with semen quality in men from infertile and fertile couples. Methods: Single-center case-control study including 50 men from infertile couples and 10 proven-fertility men as controls. Semen samples provided were used for computer-aided semen analysis and HPV detection and genotyping using real-time PCR. Results: HPV DNA was detected in the semen of 9 men from the infertile couples (18.0%) and 1 proven-fertility control (10.0%). Among the infertile couples, HPV-positivity was associated with significantly altered semen characteristics: increased progressive motility (p = 0.0399), increased presence of sperm with excess residual cytoplasm (p = 0.05) and a lower percentage of normal acrosomes (p = 0.05). Kinematic parameters, including straight-line velocity (VSL, p = 0.0235), average path velocity (VAP, p = 0.0434), linearity (LIN, p = 0.05), wobble (WOB, p = 0.05) and beat cross frequency (BCF, p = 0.0239) were significantly higher in HPV-positive infertile men. Compared to fertile controls, HPV-positive men from the infertile group exhibited significantly lower: sperm concentration (p = 0.0493), total motile sperm count (p = 0.0291) and mucus penetration ability (p = 0.0088), alongside a reduced percentage of morphologically normal sperm (p = 0.05). Conversely, they had higher rates of sperm with: excess residual cytoplasm (p = 0.05), tail deformities (p = 0.05), neck and midpiece deformities (p = 0.0499). Conclusion: Seminal HPV is associated with impaired sperm parameters in infertile men. This highlights HPV's role as a potential contributing factor in male infertility, warranting further investigations.