Getting sick from sperm banks

Nine of the 24 babies born from donated sperm from an American man have a form of fatal heart disease. One of them died of heart failure when he was 2 years old.

According to expert Barry Maron, from Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis (USA), the man who donated the sperm had an undetected gene mutation, and the mutation was inherited for children. People only found out when one of them tested positive for the disease.

This mutation causes cardiomyopathy, causing the heart to enlarge and difficult to pump blood. It occurs in about one in 500 people, and many people carry the disease but do not show symptoms (irregular heartbeat, or shortness of breath). Many cases are only detected when sudden death.

According to Xinhua, the babies are currently aged 7 to 16. Nine of them, including one of the donor's children, have tested positive for the mutation. One child died, two others had symptoms. The remaining children are at high risk, and often do not show their disease before adulthood.

For privacy reasons, both banks and sperm donors are anonymous. The man, now 42, has no signs of hereditary heart disease and has no family history, until he volunteered to donate in the early 1990s.

The researchers say this case warns the medical community about the need to improve genetic testing guidelines for sperm donors.