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PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A sperm donor passed an extremely rare and dangerous genetic ailment to five children born to four couples, doctors reported Friday in a case that exposes a gap in the screening process.
The disease, severe congenital neutropenia, can be fatal in children if untreated but is so rare that sperm banks do not test for it. Moreover, the family medical history that sperm donors must provide would not necessarily reveal such a defect, especially if the man is only a carrier and has no symptoms.
The four couples used the same sperm bank, said Dr. Lawrence A. Boxer, lead author of report in The Journal of Pediatrics, a Philadelphia publication.
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