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Due to the 1980s AIDS epidemic, HIV is often associated with, although of course not confined to, MSM.
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12 However, with the advances that have been made in the detection of pathogens in blood products, is there any reason to assume that the proposed change to the deferral should affect blood safety at all? Could, in fact, this change not be going far enough?Ī defence of restrictions on MSM and CSW donating blood is that they may have a greater incidence of transfusion transmissible infections (TTIs). 11 The safety of the patient is paramount and therefore it has been stated that the blood service should err on the side of caution. Currently, the risk of infection from transfusion is extremely low at 1 in 6.7 million for HIV, 1 in 1.3 million for hepatitis B (HBV) and 1 in 28 million for hepatitis C (HCV). Although the reduction in the deferral will result in more people being eligible to donate, there is a trend to decreased use of red blood cells transfusions, 10 and therefore the risks may outweigh the benefits. However, there will always be debate about any change that could allow potentially higher risk populations to donate more freely. Furthermore, deferrals of MSM do not distinguish between those who may be lower risk such as those in monogamous relationships. The benefits of the reduction are numerous, not least equality for these groups, although there is still an obvious disparity in the fact that heterosexual individuals and women who have sex with women, are not deferred (unless they have a high risk partner or exchange sex for money). These were based on a variety of factors including that routine surveillance found that the reduction from permanent to 12-month deferral in 2011 did not increase the risk of transmission of blood-borne infections. 5 The decision to reduce the deferral period was based on recommendations from the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO). 5,6,7 This is a change from a 12-month deferral for people who have a high-risk partner, and from a lifetime ban for CSW. 4 This deferral period came into practice in Great Britain in November 2017 and reduced the time between last sexual contact and donating blood to 3 months. 3 In July 2017, the government announced its intention to reduce the deferral of MSM as well as commercial sex workers (CSW) and those with a partner who has a high risk of an infection which could be sexually transmitted, or who has been sexually active in a high HIV prevalence region. 2 In 2011, the regulations were amended to allow MSM to donate if 12 months had elapsed since their last at-risk sexual contact. At this time, these precautions were deemed necessary due to the lack of testing for the AIDS pathogen, until HIV was identified in 1984. Permanent deferral of high-risk groups, including men who have sex with men (MSM), was initially introduced in the 1980s with the emergence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Responses indicating potentially unsafe blood may result in deferral. Prior to being allowed to donate blood, a potential donor must undergo a screening questionnaire, 1 which includes questions pertaining to their sexual practices.
#Can gay men donate blood in scotland registration
We recognise that many trans people may not consider this suitable, so as part of the FAIR changes, we have plans to require the assigned sex at birth only once at registration and not at every session, once our systems are configured to record this data.The UK blood transfusion services rely on voluntary blood donation and exclusion of potential donors can be a controversial and emotive topic. We therefore ask you to provide your assigned sex at birth during the confidential health check which all donors have before every donation. Some blood products are safe to manufacture from the blood of donors assigned male at birth but not from those assigned female at birth.
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This link goes to a different website which may not use the same language as this site. The JPAC guidelines give more information about donation if you are transgender. This is because the majority of transgender people undergo hormone replacement therapy which brings their haemoglobin levels in line with most cis people of the same gender.
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Haemoglobin testing is conducted in accordance with the gender with which you identify. Blood donation if you are transgenderĪs with all donors, a careful and sympathetic consideration of sexual risk factors is undertaken. NHS Blood and Transplant considers all donors to be the sex and/or gender that they identify as, including nonbinary, genderfluid and agender donors. All donors are addressed using the title and pronouns of their choice. Being transgender does not in any way prevent you from being able to donate.