We tend to associate insemination and assisted reproduction with modern medicine. But this is far from being the truth. Even ancient Muslim horse breeders used insemination. They just didn't call it insemination.
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We owe more than just insemination to Arabs. Like modern surgery. Its founder Abulcasis (Al-Zahráví) and his encyclopedia taught European medicine for many centuries. And the newest technique for fighting sterility seems to be just a reappearance of old techniques from the times of the first Islamic Empire. But before we get to that, let's take a look at some other recent reproduction milestones.
Dried Sperm
The first team that managed to birth offspring from lyophilized sperm was Ryuza Yanagimachi at the University of Hawaii (Honolulu). His work shows that even "dead" mammal sperm keep the genetic information undamaged. And they even keep some of the enzymatic activities. The result is that when you put such sperm into the oocytes the evolution of the embryo can take place.
Japanese scientists improved on the Hawaiian technique. News from the Yamanashi University says that if the lyophilized sperm is kept in a glass ampule it keeps its reproductive capabilities for more than a year.
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But let's go back to infections. The female half of the human species tend to be more afflicted with infections of the urinary tract. This is because their urethra tends to be shorter and thus ascendent infections happen more often. Most common infections include E. coli, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter, or Pseudomonas. Infections of the foreskin bag are the equivalent in men. But a more serious problem starts in both sexes when their urethra, bladder, or upper urinary tract gets infected.
But there are also times when infections seem to have a positive effect. At least in pairs where the male and his lowered sperm viability is the culprit. In such cases, infection is a huge win. The truth is that in hosts with a lowered immunity the infection by Enterobacter is a pathogen that leads to opportunistic infections. Nonetheless, in healthy individuals, the problem is not that big and statistically, the infection improves virility.
Currently, there are two hypotheses why this is the case. The first is that it could be caused by the positive effects of enzymes that the bacteria produce to make life harder for the opponents. The idea is that the enzymes partially disrupt the wrap of the egg making it easier for the sperm to reach their final destination.
The second is purely mechanic. We are talking about bacteria with "whips" that allow them to move. So the idea is that the movement of the bacteria somehow helps to "push" the sperm towards their goal.
So, where is the connection with ancient Arabs? Well, the authors of the study find it in the lack of hygiene in ancient times. The lack of measures to prevent infection could have improved the horse breeder's chances of inseminating their mares.