Screening

How we select and screen our donors

All our donors are carefully selected and go through an extensive approval procedure according to the rules laid out by the Danish Health Authority, the Danish Patient Safety Authority, the EU Tissues and Cells Directive and SellmerDiers’ internal standards.

Our experienced team of health professionals, laboratory technicians, nurses, doctors, and specialists in clinical genetics work together during the selection and screening process to make sure that all accepted donors meet our lofty standards regarding health, sperm quality, physique, personality and character.  Only 3 % of all donor applicants pass through the eye of the needle.

Preliminary Evaluation
Initially, the selection parameters in this procedure include:

• Age – donors must be aged between 18 and 40
• Application and preliminary interview – each applicant must complete an application form, and we review the application during a personal interview with the applicant. We assess the applicant’s personality, talents and general suitability as a donor.
• Criminal record – we check all applicants’ criminal record
• Sperm quality – we assess count, volume, motility, viability, and normality
• General health – we assess the applicants’ current health, possible risk behavior and personal and familial medical history

Donor applicants must also accept and participate in the following to become part of the donor program at SellmerDiers:

• Complete a comprehensive medical questionnaire and participate in several in-person interviews with set questions. The purpose is to get to know the donor well and to exclude donor applicants with infectious diseases, hereditary illnesses, risk behavior etc. that may constitute a risk to the recipient or any donor child
• Agree for their GP to be contacted by our doctors for possibly review of medical records to determine the medical history of the donor applicant and his family and to crosscheck the donor’s information
• Accept the strict rules of no payment for their donations (except for expenses)
• Consent that their ID will be released if requested when donor children reach the age of 18 years (only “ID-release” donors, and on certain conditions the donor category “ID-release, donor’s decision in 18 years”)
• Consent that donors have no paternal rights to a donor child, as well as donors do not have any legal responsibilities for the donor children.

Infectious disease evaluation
During the next step in the screening process, the donor will need to provide blood and urine samples for extensive infectious screening tests. Tests will include the following:

• HIV
• Hepatitis B Surface Antigen
• Hepatitis B Core Antibody
• Hepatitis C Viral Antibody
• CMV IgG/IgM
• Syphilis
• Gonorrhoea
• Chlamydia

Medical and genetic evaluation
The genetic and medical testing and evaluation include the following:

• Our physician reviews the applicant’s family medical history
• Blood group and Rhesus status
• Hemoglobin electrophoresis
• Genetic screening for diseases that are prevalent in the donor’s ethnical background population according to international scientific evidence
• Thalassemia and Sickle-cell anaemia
• Chromosome analysis
• Cystic fibrosis, carrier test
• Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), carrier test
• A physical examination by a medical doctor
• Assessment by a specialist in clinical genetics

Post-acceptance Testing
All donor specimens must be quarantined and the donor retested for HIV, (HTLV-I & II), Hepatitis B Surface Antigen, Hepatitis B Core Antibody, Hepatitis C Viral Antibody, Syphilis, CMV IgG/IgM, Gonorrhea and Chlamydia before being made available for use.

Once accepted into the program, the health status of the donor is continually re-assessed. While the donors are active, they will repeatedly be physically examined once a year and tested for infectious diseases every 2-3 months.

Before every donation, the donors must complete a questionnaire about risk behavior.

Please note! Despite all recommended testing has been carried out, the risk of transmitting a hereditary or infectious disease cannot be ruled out completely. Our extensive screening and testing reduces this risk, but cannot eliminate it completely, as sperm is a biological material.