The US is considering relaxing its ban on gay men donating blood.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States is considering reversing a ban on accepting blood donations from men who have had sex with other men. The ban, which has been in place since 1977, was introduced during the early stages of the AIDS epidemic before HIV had been identified and reliable blood tests had been developed.
The FDA is now considering relaxing the ban to allow men who haven’t had sex with other men in the last year to donate. This would be inline with the policy in several other countries, however, several members of the advisory committee expressed concern that such a change would increase the risk of being infected via a blood transfusion
“Even if this leads to one or two cases of HIV infection, that’s not acceptable,” said Kenrad Nelson, a professor of epidemiology, international health and medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.
The 12 month waiting period allows for the fact it takes two to four weeks for an HIV infection to show up in blood tests and a couple of months to detect hepatitis B. In the US, men who have sex with men are the group with the highest prevalence of HIV.
The regulations governing blood donations and who can donate vary from country to country. Australia, Japan, and the UK currently have restrictions on gay men donating blood. Canada has a ban on men who have had sex with men in the last five years. Other countries such as Spain, Italy, Russia and Poland have no ban on gay men donating blood, but often have stricter screening questions.
The World Health Organisation estimates that of the 108 million donations collected each year, approximately half come from high income countries. However, in 2012, 70 percent of countries had a national blood policy, compared with 60% in 2004. WHO is urging more countries to develop a national blood system which is governed by a national policy to ensure a controlled and safe blood supply.
The FDA will continue to consider the proposal to change the current regulations, although it hasn’t said when it will act.