Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships might quickly have the ability to donate blood for the primary time in a long time.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. is transferring to ease restrictions on blood donations from gay and bisexual men and different teams that historically face larger dangers of HIV.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday introduced draft pointers that may put off the present three-month abstinence requirement for donations from men who’ve intercourse with men. Instead, potential donors could be screened with a questionnaire that evaluates their particular person dangers for HIV based mostly on sexual conduct, latest companions and different components.
If finalized, the shift could be the newest FDA transfer to broaden donor eligibility, with the potential to enhance the U.S. blood provide.
Gay rights teams have lengthy opposed blanket restrictions on who may give blood, saying they discriminate in opposition to the LGBTQ group. Medical societies together with the American Medical Association have additionally stated such exclusions are pointless given advances in know-how to check blood for infectious illnesses.
“Current and former blood donation policies made unfounded assumptions about gay and bisexual men and really entangled individuals’ identity with their likelihood of having HIV,” stated Sarah Warbelow of the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group.
The U.S. and plenty of different nations began blocking blood donations from gay and bisexual men in the course of the early 1980’s AIDS epidemic, aiming to forestall the unfold of HIV via the blood provide.
In 2015, the FDA dropped the lifetime ban and changed it with a one-year abstinence requirement. Then in 2020, the company shortened the abstinence period to three months, after donations plummeted in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regulators stated there was no damaging affect on the blood provide as a outcomes of these modifications.
The FDA units necessities and procedures for blood banks all through the U.S. All potential donors reply questions on their sexual historical past, drug use and any latest tattoos or piercing, amongst different components that may contribute to the unfold of blood-borne infections. Donated blood is then examined for HIV, hepatitis C, syphilis and different infectious illnesses.
Under the brand new questionnaire, men who’ve intercourse with men can be requested about new or a number of companions within the final three months. Those who reply affirmatively to both query and in addition report having anal intercourse could be barred from donating till a later date. The coverage would additionally apply to ladies who’ve intercourse with gay or bisexual men.
The coverage mirrors these utilized in Canada and the U.Ok.
The FDA based its latest proposal on a recent study o f 1,600 gay and bisexual men. The FDA-funded analysis in contrast the effectiveness of an in depth, customized questionnaire on sexual conduct to the present time-based abstinence guidelines.
It will take a number of months for blood banks to make the modifications, in accordance to Cliff Numark, an govt with Vitalant, a blood heart that participated within the examine. The modifications would require new questionnaires, coaching for employees and updating laptop software program.
The Red Cross stated it helps the FDA modifications however added that it’s too early to know if they are going to end in more blood donations.
Lukas Pietrzak of Washington D.C., stated he eagerly volunteered for the FDA examine. He credit emergency blood transfusions with saving his father’s life after a biking accident in 1991.
Pietrzak donated blood in highschool however turned ineligible after turning into sexually lively as a gay man.
“Until I fully came out to my friends, I had to skirt around why I never went to blood drives with them,” says Pietrzak, 26, who now works for the federal authorities.
When there are calls for blood donations “now we’re in a position to be a part of that,” Pietrzak stated.
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