Lifelines (Summer 2002) - New Blood Donor Deferral Criteria

New Blood Donor Deferral Criteria

Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the federal agency that oversees blood centers, changed an important restriction regarding who can donate blood.

The donor deferral criteria relates to the theoretical risk of Variant Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (vCJD), sometimes referred to as the human form of “mad cow disease.” The new guidelines are as follows:

Individuals cannot donate blood if:

They have visited or resided in the U.K. (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Gibraltar or Falkland Islands) for a cumulative period of 3 months or more, between 1980 and 1996.
They have visited or resided in France for a cumulative period of 5 years or more since 1980.
They are a member of the U.S. military, a dependent or a civilian military, employee who has resided on a military base in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy or Greece for a cumulative period of six months or more between 1980 and 1996.

At this time, the vCJD donor deferrals are indefinite, however the FDA will revisit the matter as more research becomes available. The FDA is taking this very cautious approach due to a theoretical risk. At this time, there has not been one case of vCJD transmitted via blood transfusion.

If you do fall under the deferral criteria, please know how much we’ve appreciated your blood donations and please be sure to check back with us in the future, as the restrictions may change. Also, there is no reason to be alarmed or for an extra visit to your doctor if you are deferred because of vCJD.