More than just the butterflies, love and the happiness of getting to spend the rest of your life with the one you love, Marriage requires making the right health decision before embarking on the journey.
From checking for compatibility in genotype/blood group, to making sure both of you are infection free, these are the top 5 medical tests, all inspiring couples should take before tying the knot.
Genotype
Perhaps the most important of the list, the Genotype test will reveal whether you are a sickler (SS) carrier of the sickle cell trait (AS) or normal (AA). Some religious institutions mandate would be couples to have their genotypes done and submitted to them. Because the sickle cell trait is so common among blacks, - you may not be a sickler but be a carrier of the trait (AS)- marrying a partner carrying the AS trait will ultimately result to the birth of children who are sicklers. The suffering that comes with being a sickler or having a sickler child is too grave for any couple in their right thinking minds to ignore.
Blood Group/ Rhesus Factor
Determining your blood test is relatively easy to do and also extremely important. Asides the fact that knowing your partner's blood group can prove useful in saving his or her life during an emergency, it also allows the prevention of a condition called Erythroblastosis Fetalis- a condition affecting newborns where their blood is destroyed by maternal antibodies). This situation is caused when a Rhesus negative mother is pregnant with a Rhesus positive child (rhesus factor is an antigen found on the surface of red blood cells and seen in 85% of humans) and her body is stimulated to produce antibodies against the baby's blood. While the index pregnancy may not result in complications, subsequent pregnancies (in which the babies are Rhesus positive) are severely attacked by the maternal antibodies. The offending antibodies, already synthesized by the mother during the first pregnancy, viciously attack and destroy the baby's blood, leading to stillbirth and miscarriages.
HIV/AIDS Screening
Because of the sensitivity of this virus - its incurability- it is severely important for both partners to get tested to avoid the transmission of the virus to another partner; ii; avoid the transmission of the virus to the unborn child in the case of two infected partners.
Fertility Index
This is a test done to ascertain the fertility of a couple. To avoid the uncertainties that might surround conception, it is important that couples intending to make their union permanent, check their fertility status and be adequately informed on the necessary steps to take should a problem arise. The fertility index test profiles the reproductive hormones in both partners while semen analysis is tested in the man and ovulation is tested in the woman.
Genetic Screening
This is an extremely vital test as it shows the presence of possible genetically inherited diseases. Diseases like Cystic fibroid, Neurofibromatosis, Tay-Sacch's disease and a host of others are of genetic origin and transmitted from parents to their offspring's. By knowing whatever genetic ailments a couple harbours, couples undertake measures, like genetic engineering, to mitigate the risks of transmitting the ailment to their children.
For more advice and help, feel free to ask any of our Doctor health-care
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