![]() ![]() To be clear, I am not advocating for a complete overhaul of the pre-blood donation screening procedure for every individual rather, I am looking for more nuance when it comes to screening homosexual and bisexual men. All this, in addition to the advent of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), a daily pill which successfully prevents the transmission of HIV and is primarily used within the gay male community, should be enough to inspire some blood donation reform. This asymmetrical testing phenomenon skews diagnosis data, implying that MSM have comparatively higher rates of HIV infections than they actually do. Furthermore, gay and bisexual men are, in fact, more likely to seek HIV tests, and thus are more likely to be aware of their HIV diagnosis than other groups: 82 percent of HIV-positive gay men are aware of their status compared to 80 percent of drug users and 72 percent of heterosexuals. Logically, 31 percent of the 2018 HIV diagnoses were not MSM (who also didn’t inject drugs). Although there is a disproportionately high concentration of HIV in the homosexual community- 69 percent of the 2018 HIV diagnoses were of gay or bisexual men-heterosexuals and drugs users can be (and still are) infected with HIV at significant rates. The FDA still contests repealing the ban, claiming that MSM are intrinsically high risk-but it is important to remember that HIV does not exclusively affect gay men. With more advanced and accurate HIV testing-in addition to the mandatory and rigorous screening of donated blood-it makes little sense for the FDA to continue to uphold any sort of deferral period for MSM. ![]() Although three months seem generous relative to a yearly abstention for MSM, modern antigen HIV tests-which were approved for use in 2010-can now yield positive results within seven days of infection. The Red Cross is reportedly pushing for this 3-month deferral to be an interim step between the 12-month deferral and the eradication of the ban, but the FDA has made no mention of this. More recently, the FDA shortened the deferral period to three months in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Since the FDA decision, a recent study reported there has not been a statistically relevant increase in the donation of HIV contaminated blood since the relaxing of the lifetime ban to a 12-month deferral period. Now, MSM can only donate blood after abstaining from sexual activities for an entire year. Yet the lifetime ban still persisted, and it was not until 2015-only six years ago-that the ban morphed into a 12-month deferral. In 2002, the FDA approved testing that could detect an HIV infection within several weeks of exposure. But despite the approval of new methods for screening blood in the late ’80s-namely the ELISA assay and its subsequent and substantial improvements -which ensure a near-perfect HIV detection rate, the FDA’s stance on MSM blood donations has not significantly wavered. Although the measure was rather strident, the hysteria and lack of scientific knowledge in the early 1980s rationalized this exclusivist emergency measure. The ban was enacted in an effort to prevent blood bank contamination from undetectable HIV-infected blood. The FDA restrictions surrounding blood donations by men who have sex with men (MSM) originated in 1983. What I found shocked my 17-year-old self. Immensely confused, I promptly Googled, “Why can’t gay men donate blood?” while my heterosexual friends proceeded through the blood donation clinic without me. A Red Cross volunteer swiftly squashed my fear and informed me that I had been deferred due to my recent sexual relation with another man. Terrified, my mind immediately concluded I had some blood illness I was not previously aware of. ![]() However, after some quick screening and routine paperwork at the in-school clinic, I was told I was ineligible to donate blood. So, I convinced a few of my friends to donate with me we were to make an outing out of our donation. I took one of the many leaflets and suddenly came to the realization that I had never donated blood before- I didn’t even know my own blood type! As a young and healthy teenager, I decided it was finally time to get my blood drawn I had friends who donated every year, yet it never occurred to me that I could and should donate. “Interested in donating blood?” This startling question presented itself as a storm of Red Cross pamphlets filled my high school’s library. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |