Report shows it’s just as safe for gay and bisexual people to donate blood

In December 2020, the UK government announced that it would lift the ban on blood donation by gay and bisexual men, which was first introduced in 1980 during the HIV/AIDS crisis, and in June 2021, it will lift the rules on blood donation because men had previously been unable to Donation is prohibited within three months of sexual contact with another man. Now, any man who has sex with a man and is in a long-term monogamous relationship, or who has been with a sexual partner for more than three months, can donate blood.

A new report released this week by the National Health Service (NHS), which monitors the safety of blood donors and blood recipients in European countries, shows there has not been any negative impact on blood safety in the UK since the changes to blood donation rules. By 2021. According to the document, the residual risk of new hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV-infected blood being released into the supply remains less than one in a million.

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pink news It was highlighted that the number of infections among blood donors overall remains low and that blood donors respond well to individualized risk assessment questions about their sexual behavior when donated blood has a marker for infection. In fact, the report’s findings were described as “very encouraging” and “reassurance for recipient safety”.. His Brailsford, Acting Clinical Director, Microbiology and Public Health, NHS Blood and Transplantation.

“As always, we are grateful to our donors who help save and improve the lives of our recipients each year,” he said. Another study also published this year, the Serious Harm of Blood Transfusions report, found that there were no confirmed cases of hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV transmitted through blood transfusions during 2022.

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In the United States, a review of regulations is due early next year, with the Food and Drug Administration set to make recommendations to loosen restrictions on donations from sexually active gay men.

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