Which diseases are you screened for as a sperm donor?
To ensure that you are as healthy as possible, you will go through a screening process before being accepted as a Cryos donor. But what are you screened for? Tine, one of our Donor Coordinators, explains.
Our Donor Coordinator Tine is a trained nurse and she helps donor applicants at Cryos through the process towards becoming a sperm donor. Below she answers questions about which kind of testing and screening you will undergo as a donor candidate.
What happens after the donor candidate has applied?
”When we have received the application, the candidate is invited to visit Cryos to have his sperm quality tested. If the sperm quality is good enough, he will be asked to sign a donor agreement and fill out a questionnaire about his health and the health of his family members. We will invite him to do a so-called psychosocial interview about his background, family, motivation, and considerations about becoming a sperm donor and invite him in for a clinical examination. All this is part of the screening process."
What is the clinical examination about?
”At the clinical exam I or one of my colleagues will go through the health questionnaire together with the donor candidate. Further to this, we carry out a physical examination of the donor candidate. This means that we will measure blood pressure, height and weight and check if the candidate has any signs of illness, malformation or infection.”
Which diseases are you screened for as a donor?
"In addition to the questionnaire and the physical exam, we will need a blood sample and a urine sample from the donor candidate. The blood and urine samples are tested for blood type and infectious diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B and C, chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and HTLV (human T-cell lymphotropic virus).
We also test for the most common genetic variants causing genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, hemoglobinopathies, spinal muscular atrophy and Tay Sachs disease. These are the most frequent serious hereditary diseases worldwide.
Finally, we also screen for a normal karyotype (chromosome profile). The genetic tests are only carried out once, while the test for infectious diseases is carried out every three months, while the donor is active. For you, as a donor, it means that you will receive ongoing checks for sexually transmitted diseases, which a lot of our donors appreciate.”
Why do you have to go through this screening programme as a donor at Cryos?
”The aim of our thorough screening procedure is to ensure that our donors are as healthy as possible. This is to minimize the risk of transferring genetic or infectious diseases to the children born from their donations. All people have medical conditions that we are not aware of. By excluding some of the most common ones, we help to ensure the best possible chances of having a healthy child.
Also, most countries have different legislations regarding the use of sperm donors, including requirements in the selection and screening of sperm donors. Our screening programme ensures that you, as a sperm donor, will live up to the different legislative requirements."
Do you want to know more about the process towards becoming a donor? Read our guide about how to become a sperm donor or read more about the requirement for sperm donors here.
If you have any questions about our screening or the process in general, please contact us – we will be more than happy to help.