Selection of egg providers (also called egg donors)
Most donors are recruited by responding to adverts placed in their local newspaper. These adverts give a brief summary of the recipients couples fertility history but are strictly anonymous and the donors are invited to contact the clinic for a consultation with a doctor. Egg sharing donors are either made aware of this possibility via adverts in the Press or are referred directly by a doctor to the Clinic.
Although there is a great need for egg donors we have to make sure as far as we can that we are not passing any disease or abnormality to a potential recipient through donor eggs. In particular we try to exclude any increased risk of transmitting genetic abnormalities or viral infection. For this reason we do not accept donors over the age of 35 years because of the increased risk of transmitting Downs syndrome.
We ask for a detailed medical and family history to exclude any hereditary disease that could be passed through the donor’s eggs. There is a legal obligation for donors to reply truthfully to these questions. The next step is to perform a series of tests.
These include:
Blood group : This is important information for the recipient’s pregnancy
FSH hormone : This tells us to a limited extent about the fertility of the donors’ eggs.
HIV, Hepatitis B (surface & core), Hepatitis C and Syphilis to exclude viral infection
Chlamydia and a vaginal swab to exclude sexually transmitted diseases
Chromosome analysis to make sure they do not have an unknown genetic problem
Cystic Fibrosis screen : 1 in 25 people in this Country carry a gene abnormality for cystic fibrosis. If the donor is a carrier it does not mean that she has any medical problem. It just tells us that we cannot fertilise her eggs with the sperm of a man who is also a Cystic Fibrosis carrier as this would lead to a 1 in 4 chance of a baby being born with the disease of Cystic Fibrosis. In these circumstances we would ask your male partner to have a cystic fibrosis screen. If he is not a carrier there is no increased risk of a baby having cystic fibrosis.
CMV (Cytomegalovirus) : This is a very common minor viral infection like rubella. Approximately half of all women have had this infection in the past and are therefore immune. If your donor is immune for CMV we can only use her eggs if you also are immune. We reserve CMV negative donors for CMV negative recipients.
