CMV status for donor sperm

[Snapdragon]

Hi again,
I am not sure if this is the right forum to place all my donor sperm questions? Should I put it in ttc?

anyway- looking through sperm bank websites I saw some things about CMV- some kind of virus that people are either positive or negative for.

Apparently, if I am negative and the donor is positive it could be really bad for the fetus? Do I need to be tested for this?

In general, I think my biggest fear about unknown donor sperm is the potential health of the baby.
Can anyone talk to me about this?
the cmv thing and other health issues?

Is it more dangerous than other forms of conception? I mean, how well tested are these donors?

And what about the cmv thing?

Also- what is the deal with blood types? what do I need to know?
thanks!
If there is somewhere else to post all my many and more to come donor sperm questions please let me know.

[Snapdragon]

I looked up cmv on this thread and got some more info- but if anyone has anything else to say on it I would appreciate it!

[FtMPapa]

Conventional medical wisdom is that you should be tested for it, and if you turn up negative, you should choose a negative donor, which may limit your choices somewhat. If you turn up positive, you never need to think about it again.

The deal is that a very small percentage of CMV- people will contract CMV through donor sperm that is CMV+, a very small percentage of those will have babies who get sick.

If you don't want to/can't get tested, choose a negative donor, or don't worry about it - most straight couples don't know their CMV status, and of those in mixed status relationships, most don't worry about it.

I will submit that donor sperm questions, IMO, should stay in Queer Parenting, though the folks over at Infertility might know something about it.

[ladida1977]

I was told that if someone is CMV negative that they highly recomend using a CMV negative donor to be on the safe side. The CMV virus is pretty dangerous, especially during the first trimester. As the person said before me.. if you test and u are CMV positive, than you dont have to worry at all... you can choose a negative or positve donor. I tested positive for the active CMV virus and they wouldnt inseminate me until it was gone.

As for bloodtypes.. the problem one faces is if they have a negative blood type. I am O-... When choosing a donor it was wise for me to choose a donor that had a negative blood type as well. Luckily I found a donor who was O- and CMV-... but my choices when down to about 5 donors. It is possible for you to use a donor with a positive blood type if you have a negative one, but you will need to get injections to avoid your body trying to fight off the baby thinking it is a disease of some sort. If you are a positive blood type then you should be able to pick a donor with any blood type.. if I am not mistaken. I hope this helps!!

Angela

[FtMPapa]

Maybe this is crazy of me, but I kind of feel like choosing donor sperm might make straight people realize the issues that queers deal with every day.

So, part of the deal with blood types, as Angela says above, is about your health, but it only matters if your blood type is negative. (This is also called Rh-factor.)

The other part of the deal with blood types is that some straight people who don't intend to tell their child that ze was donor conceived match the husband's blood type. I might get this part wrong, but htis is the general idea, if you are A+ and your husband is B+, the only possible bloodtypes for your child are A+, B+, and AB. So, if your kid finds out that ze is O-, for example, you're going to have some tough questions to answer, assuming your kid knows anything about blood types.

Since the discovery of DNA, most people don't worry about matching blood type so much anymore, because even if the blood types match, the DNA won't.

[smartycat]

If you found info about CMV in the threads, then you have probably already read my opinion. Which is that we didn't care. My DP was not tested and it was not a deciding factor for us. And while a donor might test positive for a previous CMV exposure, NO donor sperm is cleared if there is active infection.

Has anyone have documentation of an actual case of frozen donor sperm spreading CMV to mom/fetus?? My research assurred me that CMV is really a non issue with frozen sperm through a bank. I think many REs are against it because they certainly do concern themselves with the risk of active infection with hetero couples they work with.

If you are the worrying type, then you may wish to pursue that and/or look for negative donors but we felt the risk was extremely minimal.