The Blood Ban
Donation restrictions continue despite improved testing methods

Dear Dr. Wayne: I went to donate blood the other day but they said I couldn’t because I’m a gay man. I’m clean, and besides, don’t they screen the blood for diseases?

Back in 1983, when HIV and AIDS became widespread in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration set a policy banning gay men from donating blood.
The policy bans blood donation for life from the following groups:

• Men who have had sex with another man (even once) after the year 1977.
• Anyone who’s ever used intravenous drugs.
• Anyone who’s ever been paid for sex.

Testing methods back in the ’80s were limited, and the purpose of the ban was to protect the blood supply, and to prevent HIV infection in people receiving blood products or transfusions.

Since then, HIV testing technology has become more sophisticated. Donated blood is routinely tested for HIV (along with Hepatitis B and C). The chance of becoming infected with HIV from a blood transfusion is estimated at 1 in more than 2 million.

And yet, the ban remains. The American Red Cross and other blood donation centers, citing blood shortages and improved testing methods, asked the FDA to revise its policy, claiming it was “medically and scientifically unwarranted.” They suggested that, rather than a lifetime ban, men instead be allowed to donate blood if they haven’t had male-to-male sexual contact in at least a year.

Last month, the FDA announced it was upholding the ban, stating that while new testing methods are accurate, they cannot detect HIV virus 100 percent of the time. They acknowledged the blood supply shortage, as well as the fact that many potentially healthy donors will be turned away, but they deny their policy is discriminatory.

The FDA has said it would revise its ban if new data can show that a policy change would not pose a preventable risk to people receiving blood products.

Ironically, just this month, the FDA approved a new HIV test.

Until now, most HIV tests detected HIV antibodies, which the body produces within a few weeks of become exposed. The average time it takes antibodies to appear is 25 days, but it can take up to 12 weeks or more. These tests had limitations in that there was a “window period,” where someone could have been infected with the virus but not yet made antibodies, and therefore have a test result that was falsely negative.

The new test detects viral antigens, which are parts of the virus itself, as well as antibodies. It doesn’t work immediately after an infection, but it can cut the window period down by a week or more. Early detection can hopefully prevent the newly diagnosed person from infecting others, and allow for early treatment.

For more information on HIV, talk with your doctor, or visit www.cdc.gov/hiv.

Doctor Wayne is Dr. Wayne Davis, D.O., a board-certified family practice physician who is practicing in Phoenix.

This column is not meant to offer specific medical advice, but to provide general information about health issues. Dr. Wayne welcomes suggestions for future topics. E-mail him at doctor.wayne@yahoo.com

Consult your physician if you have a medical problem. For a health care referral, contact the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association by e-mail at www.glma.org/programs/prp/index.shtml or by phone at 415-255-4547.