Blood Donation Restrictions

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

What I'm asking is what those risk factors are. It seems to me if the specific restrictions are good enough for USA residents and presumably African, South American, Asian, and Australian residents, they must be singling out Europeans for some other reason.

No, it's about Mad Cow Disease and, to a much lesser extent, hepatitis. Also, some Eastern European countries are on the list because of hepatitis and rabies.

And they do ask if one was born, lived in or visited any African country (and then ask which country.) Or if one had sexual contact with anyone who was born in, lived in, visited, etc. any country in Africa.

To my understanding, there are four or five African nations that merit a instant deferral if the answer is yes but the rest are all right.

Which disease that's about, you can guess.

Also, there is a waiting period for certain Caribbean nations because of malaria. The first time I attempted to donate blood, I made the stupid mistake of being honest about having visited the Dominican Republic and was bumped for three months. After all the trouble I went through, getting a consent form and forging my mother's signature on it because she and my father refused to give me permission to donate (I was sixteen at the time and needed a consent form).

 

[Soapy Sam]

Not a stupid mistake. Just honesty. The rules may seem capricious, but they're not random.

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Actually, the restrictions on the Dominican Republic are not a rule of the Red Cross's but of the FDA's. Even the technician was disappointed at having to defer me and apologized to me for it.

They shouldn't have ridiculous and overcautious rules. When you go crazy over not real threats like Mad Cow disease and malaria, people don't take you seriously when you have very reasonable restrictions over very real threats, like AIDS.

 

[ectoplasm]

In Canada you can't give blood if you have ever had malaria, which counts me out.

 

[catbasket]

While the number may rise, cases of vCJD are very much in decline and have been since 2000 when they peaked at 28 for the year. There was only 1 confirmed death from vCJD last year.

Linky.

Thanks for that. Maybe the rules have changed and I can now give blood again. I've sent a query through www.blood.co.uk ... which appears to be the National Blood Service for England & North Wales. South Wales blood not good enough for you, eh? Them's fightin' words.

 

[paximperium]

They shouldn't have ridiculous and overcautious rules. When you go crazy over not real threats like Mad Cow disease and malaria, people don't take you seriously when you have very reasonable restrictions over very real threats, like AIDS.

I disagree. Unless there is a massive blood shortage, caution is the key. "Save a life but kill them with HIV" or some other disease is not acceptable.

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Caution is one thing, over caution is another. If the FDA makes rules the Red Cross doesn't even want, they are being overprotective. Mad Cow disease isn't a very serious problem and they treat it like it is. All gay men don't have AIDS but they treat them all as if they do, though all blood is tested anyway. The chances of having a disease after getting a piercing or a tattoo or having acupuncture are very small if the place is legal but they don't allow you to donate a year after having an ear piercing or acupuncture and might defer tattoo owners permanently.

Silly rules just deter safe donors and teach people who want to donate to lie and disregard the not-so-silly rules for which there actually is a good reason.

 

[casebro]

They do it this way because it still leave enough donors to keep the supplies flowing. Look for a loosening of the rules when they banks actually do run low.

The blood banks sure cry about shortages, it keeps the donors lined up. But I don't know anybody who has died from the lack of a pint.

The banks are pretty quiet about the huge quantity of whole blood sold for processing into other products. It's just not nearly as heart rending to hear "The pharmaceutical companies need more serum to make a concoction" than it is say "A child will die without your donation. Give the Gift of Life."

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

I started a thread about this when I first noticed the European U.S. military base restrictions since they applied to me, but it appears to have been lost or pruned.

So, the USA is not accepting Europeans, but because the Europeans have no choice, they have to make do. Is that about right?

The American Red Cross doesn't restrict just Europeans, but Americans who have lived in certain parts of Europe during certain frames because (as everyone's pointed out) BSE/vCJD. Here's a comprehensive listing from ARC on why one might be eliminated or restricted from donating.
http://www.redcross.org/en/eligibility
Specifically this vCJD subsection.

Here's the part that gets me:

You were a member of the of the U.S. military, a civilian military employee, or a dependent of a member of the U.S. military who spent a total time of 6 months on or associated with a military base in any of the following areas during the specified time frames

From 1980 through 1990 - Belgium, the Netherlands (Holland), or Germany
From 1980 through 1996 - Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy or Greece.

 

[nathan]

Also, there is a waiting period for certain Caribbean nations because of malaria. The first time I attempted to donate blood, I made the stupid mistake of being honest about having visited the Dominican Republic

Not a stupid mistake, though I can understand your disappointment.

A similar thing happened to me. I'd returned from Canada, and was just inside the 28 day limit (by about a day). They declined me -- Ottawa's such a hot bed of West Nile virus

ETA: BTW at this Tuesday's session, they asked about flu-like symptoms in me or immediate contacts.

 

[Cuddles]

They shouldn't have ridiculous and overcautious rules. When you go crazy over not real threats like Mad Cow disease and malaria, people don't take you seriously when you have very reasonable restrictions over very real threats, like AIDS.

Hang on. I can understand people complaining about the risks of vCJD being exaggerated, but since when did malaria stop being real? To compare with AIDS, which you consider a real risk - AIDS is currently estimated to affect a little over 30 million people, and has probably killed around 2 million in total. Malaria infects around 250 million people every year, and kills around 1 million every year. In addition, it's easy to know if you are at risk from AIDS - if you haven't had sex or had blood-to-blood contact with anyone, you're safe. Malaria, on the other hand, can be caught from a single insect bite that you may not even notice.

If anything, the rules covering malaria are far too lax, at least in the UK. You can currently give blood 6 months after visiting an area with malaria (as long as you haven't actually had symptoms in the meantime of course). However, it's not particularly uncommon for incubation periods of a year or longer. Apparently the longest recorded incubation periods is 30 years. Dismissing malaria as "not a real threat" is really not a good idea.

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

They do it this way because it still leave enough donors to keep the supplies flowing. Look for a loosening of the rules when they banks actually do run low.

The blood banks sure cry about shortages, it keeps the donors lined up. But I don't know anybody who has died from the lack of a pint.

The banks are pretty quiet about the huge quantity of whole blood sold for processing into other products. It's just not nearly as heart rending to hear "The pharmaceutical companies need more serum to make a concoction" than it is say "A child will die without your donation. Give the Gift of Life."

I once asked a technician at my blood center if anyone has ever died because of lack of blood and he said no, because they have an arrangement with other blood centers to exchange blood products in case of need and because when there is a shortage, they call up previous donors and ask them to come in.

As a committed and regular donor since the age of 17, I'd be shocked and disappointed if what you said were true.

There is a disclaimer on the New York Blood Center form informing donors that their blood may go to "research" but the blood center always stresses that it goes to patients first. When I donate at NYU's Medical Center, I'm informed by the staff that it goes to either of NYU's two hospitals and some for research. The form might say more- but I really don't recall seeing any disclaimer there.

Hang on. I can understand people complaining about the risks of vCJD being exaggerated, but since when did malaria stop being real? To compare with AIDS, which you consider a real risk - AIDS is currently estimated to affect a little over 30 million people, and has probably killed around 2 million in total. Malaria infects around 250 million people every year, and kills around 1 million every year. In addition, it's easy to know if you are at risk from AIDS - if you haven't had sex or had blood-to-blood contact with anyone, you're safe. Malaria, on the other hand, can be caught from a single insect bite that you may not even notice.

If anything, the rules covering malaria are far too lax, at least in the UK. You can currently give blood 6 months after visiting an area with malaria (as long as you haven't actually had symptoms in the meantime of course). However, it's not particularly uncommon for incubation periods of a year or longer. Apparently the longest recorded incubation periods is 30 years. Dismissing malaria as "not a real threat" is really not a good idea.

Actually, most areas of the Dominican Republic are at a low risk for malaria and the area most at risk is the area neighboring Haiti. Returning American tourists carrying it is a very small problem.

I went there in the spring of 2005 (I'm fairly certain that's right) so it was about a year after a small non fatal outbreak during which a small number of American and Canadian tourists staying at beach resorts were infected...so maybe they were being extra cautious that year?

AIDS is certainly a much, much bigger problem in the United States than malaria is. I understand a blood center in New York being terrified of the transmission of AIDS and taking a lot of measures to prevent it. Malaria and West Nile Virus, on the other hand, are possible but not all that probable.

 

[kerikiwi]

My blood is not accepted here in NZ because of allergy to bee venom. I was quite gobsmacked at that.