Hundreds of thousands of former donors can once again roll up their sleeves, perhaps bolstering U.S. blood collections, which lagged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since 1999, those people have been banned from giving blood in the U.S. for fear that they’d been exposed to mad cow disease. Outbreaks of the cattle-borne infection swept through Europe, eventually killing at least 232 people, mostly in the U.K. Four cases have been reported in the U.S., all in people who likely acquired the infections abroad, health officials said.
“The most important thing is for individuals that believe they may now be eligible to call their local blood center,” said Kate Fry, chief executive of America’s Blood Centers, which represents more than 600 blood collection sites providing nearly 60% of the U.S. blood supply. Invariably fatal, with an incubation period that can last years or even decades, the emergence of vCJD in humans in the late 1990s alarmed officials responsible for the safety of the blood supply, said Dr. Rita Reik, chief medical officer for OneBlood, a collection center in Florida.
Tracking down lost donors has been a challenge, said Dr. John Armitage, chief executive of the Oklahoma Blood Institute. His staff has used emails, postcards and phones to contact more than 6,300 donors who were turned away since 1999. So far, about 350 have returned to donate. The now-lifted military ban included Schermerhorn, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who was stationed in Germany from 1988 to 1992.
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No more mad cow worries, banned blood donors can give againThe Food and Drug Administration lifted longtime rules that had barred blood donations from people, including current and former military members, who spent time in the U.K. and other countries during periods from 1980 to 2001.
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No more mad cow worries, banned blood donors can give againBlood centers in the U.S. are scrambling to track down hundreds of thousands of former donors turned away because of worries about mad cow disease in Europe more than two decades ago.
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No more mad cow worries, banned blood donors can give againThe Food and Drug Administration lifted longtime rules that had barred blood donations from people, including current and former military members, who spent time in the U.K. and other countries during periods from 1980 to 2001.
Consulte Mais informação »
Blood donors, once banned due to mad cow disease, can give againSince 1999, those people have been banned from giving blood in the U.S. for fear that they’d been exposed to mad cow disease.
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Blood donors, once banned due to mad cow disease, can give againSince 1999, those people have been banned from giving blood in the U.S. for fear that they’d been exposed to mad cow disease.
Consulte Mais informação »
No more mad cow worries, banned blood donors can give againU.S. Army veteran Matt Schermerhorn couldn’t give blood for years because he was stationed in Europe during a deadly mad cow disease scare there. Now, he’s proud to be back in the donor’s chair. Schermerhorn, 58, is among thousands of people, including current and former military members, who have returned to blood donation centers across the country after federal health officials lifted a ban that stood for more than two decades.
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