Post by freecharlie on Jul 27, 2016 22:21:35 GMT
Up until last year, if a man had had sex with a man, they were banned for life from donating blood. Last year they changed it to if the man had abstained from gay sex for 1 year he could donate.
After the shooting in Orlando, may gay males were turned away from donating blood. Since science can now screen better for HIV, the FDA is considering lifting the ban completely and going case-by-case. They are looking for input from the scientific community.
I guess my question is, if it is so hard to test for recently contracted HIV, wouldn't it be beneficial to not let anybody who has had unprotected sex in the last month or so from donating instead of singling out gay men? I remember a statistic that gay men have a higher infection rate than other groups, but still.
Here's one of many links
link
After the shooting in Orlando, may gay males were turned away from donating blood. Since science can now screen better for HIV, the FDA is considering lifting the ban completely and going case-by-case. They are looking for input from the scientific community.
I guess my question is, if it is so hard to test for recently contracted HIV, wouldn't it be beneficial to not let anybody who has had unprotected sex in the last month or so from donating instead of singling out gay men? I remember a statistic that gay men have a higher infection rate than other groups, but still.
Here's one of many links
link
