What tests should I have done before home insemination?

Health Screening for Home Insemination

If you have found a sperm donor and are about to embark on home insemination ensure you have been referred by your doctor to check that you are fertile and able to conceive. Importantly make sure your sperm donor has been tested to ensure he is disease free and has a high sperm count and good levels of sperm motility.

Here is a general list of pre-insemination screening that you should insist your donor produces before any insemination takes place.

- ABO-Rh blood typing

- Chlamydia by PCR

- Cytomegalovirus (CMV)Antibody

- Gonorrhea

- Hepatitis B surface Antigen

- Hepatitis B core Antibody

- Hepatitis C Viral Antibody

- HIV Antibody (AIDS test)

- HTLV-1 Antibody

- RPR (syphilis)

- Semen analysis (count, motility, morphology)

Particularly if you are using an African American or Jewish donor you may wish to ask your donor to be screened for some of the following:

- ALT(SGPT)

- Canavan disease carrier screening *

- Chemistry panel

- Complete blood count(CBC)

- Cystic fibrosis carrier screening

- Fanconi anemia carrier screening*

- Gaucher disease carrier screening*

- Niemann-Pick diseasecarrier screening*

- Sickle cell diseasecarrier testing***

- Tay-sachs disease carrier testing**

- Urinalysis

** For donors with Jewishor French Canadian ancestry.

***For donors with African American / African ancestry.

Where can a sperm donor go to be tested?

Visit your GP and ask for sexual health and fertility tests. You can either explain that you are looking to become a sperm donor or you are looking to begin trying for a baby with your partner and want to be screened first.

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