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Changes Mean More of the Public Can Give Blood
Written by
Lesly Hallman
, Staff Writer, RedCross.org
Tuesday, June 22, 2004 — In May, the American Red Cross elected to loosen its restrictions on blood donors who have lived or traveled in the United Kingdom because of concerns about vCJD, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. The new deferral policy restricts donors who spent a total of three months or more from Jan. 1, 1980 through Dec. 31, 1996.
This new policy is not yet in effect—approval is first required by the Food and Drug Administration, which is expected within the next year. Once the policy is enacted, tens of thousands more donors will be able to give blood.
The previous policy restricted donors who spent more than three months in the United Kingdom from 1980 to the present. The new policy ends the deferral period in 1996.
Blood goes through testing at a Red Cross testing lab. Blood banks still don’t have a test for vCJD. |
“We have looked at the progress of the disease over the past two years, and we are comfortable with where the FDA is and how they have been managing this situation,” said Dr. Jerry Squires, American Red Cross vice president of Biomedical Services and chief scientific officer. “We are comfortable following their guidance in the matter.”
vCJD is the human form of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. More than 150 human cases of vCJD have been reported around the world, primarily in the United Kingdom. Thousands of animals around the world who were thought to be infected with mad cow disease have been slaughtered to prevent possible transmission to humans.
The scientific community continues to debate how the disease is transmitted from animals to humans, but concerns that blood transfusions could be one source of transmission led to the deferral. The American Red Cross collects more than half the nation’s blood supply.
Restrictions will remain in place for donors who have spent a total of six months in Europe (including the UK), Oman or Turkey since 1980.
In 2001, the Red Cross instituted a stringent vCJD policy that was stricter than that set by the FDA. Initial estimates found that up to four percent, or 154,000 eligible donors, would no longer be able to donate under the tightened restrictions. With this change, many of those donors will be able to donate blood again to the Red Cross
“The FDA continues to carefully investigate the situation, so the best approach we can take now is to closely follow their guidelines,” Squires said.
Scientific organizations around the world have worked with the blood banking community to develop a test to detect vCJD, but those efforts have not yet proven successful.
Donors who were deferred should look for more information on these changes later this year.
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