The Unidad de Genética, Reproducción y Medicina Fetal (Genetics, Reproduction and Fetal Medicine Unit) at the Virgen del Rocío hospital in Sevilla has successfully carried out the first transfer of umbilical cord blood from the first baby manipulated to be free of hereditary genetic disease.
Javier was born last October in the hope that he would be able to give his seven year old brother Andrés the opportunity to live through the transplantation of stem cells. Andrew suffers from a severe congenital anemia.
Javier’s parents opted for a pre-implantation genetic diagnosis which allows for the production of a baby free from inherited disease and one who would be compatible with his brother for the purposes of transplants.
It is the first such operation to be carried out in Spain.