Not eligible to give blood

Sean T. McBeth · 2009-08-17T22:08:46

So, for the last 2 weeks, my coworkers have thought I was making shit up when I told them I wasn't eligible to donate blood because of Mad Cow Disease; they thought I just didn't want to give blood. Quote: redcross.org In-Depth Discussion of Variant Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease and Blood Donation In some parts of the world, cattle can get an infectious, fatal brain disease called Mad Cow Disease. In these same locations, humans have started to get a new disease called variant Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease (vCJD) which is also a fatal brain disease. Scientists believe that vCJD is Mad Cow Disease that has somehow transferred to humans, possibly through the food chain. There is now evidence from a small number of case reports involving patients and laboratory animal studies that vCJD can be transmitted through transfusion. There is no test for vCJD in humans that could be used to screen blood donors and to protect the blood supply. This means that blood programs must take special precautions to keep vCJD out of the blood supply by avoiding collections from those who have been where this disease is found. At this time, the American Red Cross donor eligibility rules related to vCJD are as follows: You are not eligible to donate if: [...] You were [...] 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 I was born to American parents on an US Army base near Augsburg, Germany in 1982. We didn't move back to the US until after my father finished his enlistment term in 1984 or 1985. It seems sort of a silly restriction. It seems like if I had gotten it some time between age 0 - age 3, I would have seen some kind of symptoms by age 26. If the disease is at all transmissible through blood, shouldn't there be some way to test for it?

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Started by capn_midnight August 17, 2009 09:34 AM

11 comments, last by trzy 15 years, 2 months ago

mikesc

138

August 17, 2009 05:32 PM

I used volunteer for the Red Cross and as far as I know there is no 100% reliable test for vCJD. In Germany you're not allowed to donate only if you had to undergo surgery in the UK before 2003.

@capn_midnight
Maybe it soothes you to know that there hasn't been any vCJD case in Germany ever ;)

Machaira

1,035

August 17, 2009 08:53 PM

I served in the Army in Germany in 87 and 88 so I can't give either, although I'd given many times in the years before they stopped allowing it.

Former Microsoft XNA and Xbox MVP | Check out my blog for random ramblings on game development

trzy

100

August 17, 2009 10:08 PM

Mad Cow is caused by mis-folded proteins. To my knowledge, there is no diagnostic test available that can detect these but several groups are working on understanding how these proteins fold so that agents capable of binding to mis-folded proteins can be designed. There is a potentially huge market here for early Alzheimer detection, as a similar process is involved.

----Bart

Not eligible to give blood

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Not eligible to give blood

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