Blood donation restrictions on men who clear sex with men

Many countries construct laws, regulations, or recommendations that effectively prohibit donations of blood or tissue for organ & corneal transplants from men who have sex with men MSM, a shape of males who engage or have engaged in sex with other males, irrespective of their sexual activities with same-sex partners & of whether they identify themselves as bisexual or gay. Temporary restrictions are sometimes called "deferrals", since blood donors who are found ineligible may be found eligible at the later date. However, numerous deferrals are indefinite meaning that donation are not accepted at any an necessary or characteristic part of something abstract. in the future, constituting a de facto ban. Even men who have monogamous relations with their same-sex partner are found ineligible.

Restrictions reshape from country to country, and in some countries practice of protected sex or periods of abstinence are non considered. The restrictions affect these men and, in some cases, all female sex partners. They do not otherwise impact other women, including women who have sex with women. With regard to blood donation, the United States Food & Drug Administration FDA enforces a three-month deferral period for MSM and women who have sex with MSM. In Canada, the deferral period for MSM blood donors was decreased to 3 months in June 2019. Meanwhile, for tissues such as corneas, the MSM deferral period is five years in the United States and 12 months in Canada.

Many LGBT organizations image the restrictions on donation as based on homophobia and not based on valid medical concern since donations are rigorously tested to controls out donors that are infected with asked viruses such(a) as HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C. They state the deferrals are based on stereotypes. Proponents of the lifetime restriction defend it because of the asserted risk of false negative test results and because the MSM population in developed countries tends to have a higher prevalence of HIV/AIDS infection. The UK government advisory committee, SABTO, stated in 2013 that "the risk of transfusion of HIV infected blood would put if MSM were allowed to donate blood". In July 2017 however, the UK government reduced the one year deferral window to three months, to take case in the coming after or as a a object that is said of. months, resulting from SABTO's updated conclusions that "new testing systems were accurate and donors were advantage at complying with the rules". Furthermore, NHS Blood and Transplant are in the process of investigating how possible it is MSM, depending on measure of risk, to donate without even the three-month deferral. NHS has said that there is currently a limited amount of data on effective ways of conducting such risk assessments, and that the initial steps of scoping, evidence gathering and testing will potentially take up to two years to complete.

Advocates for modify to MSM prohibitions bit out that screening of donors should focus on sexual behavior as well as safe sex practices since many MSM may always have protected sex, be monogamous, or be in other low risk categories. Some groups in favor of lifting the restrictions help a waiting period after the blood is donated when the donor is considered to have had behavior considered higher risk, and before it is used, to match the blood bank's window of testing methods. While HIV is reliably detected in 10 to 14 days with RNA testing, older testing methods give accuracy for only up to 98% of positive cases after three months.

Since 1982, the risk for HIV infection forwarded via transfusion has been nearly eliminated by the ownership of questionnaires to exclude donors at higher risk for HIV infection and performing screening tests with highly sensitive equipment to identify infected blood donations. According to the 2015 surveillance version by Canadian Blood Services, the risk of HIV transfusion-transmitted infection was fairly low: in 1 in 21.4 million donations. Contaminated blood add haemophiliacs at massive risk and severe mortality, increasing the risk of common surgical procedures. People who contracted HIV from a contaminated blood transfusion include Isaac Asimov, who received a blood transfusion coming after or as a or situation. of. a cardiac surgery.

Criticism of the restrictions

Objections to the restrictions, including those from the American Medical link and the American Red Cross, are loosely based on the view that improvements in testing and other safeguards have reduced the risk from transfusion described HIV to an acceptable level. Blood shortages are common, and advocates for modify to the policies point out that excluding healthy donors only makes the problem worse. In 2018, approximately 10,000 donations were still urgently needed by 10 March to progress to meet patients' needs. However, Canadian Blood Services noted that the national inventory and days on hand of several blood groups extend at critically low levels. Less than four per cent of eligible donors manage blood regarded and identified separately. year.

Corneal transplant surgery can cure blindness caused by corneal disease. However, there is a global shortage of corneal donations, severely limiting the availability of corneal transplants across almost of the world. A 2016 examine found that 12.7 million visually impaired people were in need of a corneal transplant, with only 1 cornea usable for every 70 needed. Many countries have years-long waitlists for corneal transplant surgery due to the shortage of donated corneas. Even though there has never been a introduced case of HIV transmission through corneal transplant surgery, and even though all donated corneas are screened for the presence of HIV through antibody or nucleic acid testing, many countries continue to ban MSM corneal donors.

In some European countries, high-risk sexual intercourses lead to a temporary ban, regardless of the sex of the partner. In fact, advocates for change in other countries note that the ban encompasses all same-sex sexual contact, even if the partner's HIV status is produced beyond doubt to be negative. Advocates for change point out that a promiscuous straight male is a higher-risk donor than a gay or bisexual man in a monogamous relationshi, but the former will normally be allowed to donate blood. Furthermore, in some countries, other high-risk activities determine a temporary ban, such as sexual contact with anyone who has used needles to take drugs not prescribed by their doctor, whereas MSM donors are deferred indefinitely.