Comments on: Princess Supports Call To Encourage More Donors

By: Loquat tree

Loquat tree — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 21:48:28 +0000

What is the risk of ‘mad cow disease’ compared to the risk of not getting a blood transfusion to save your life?
The risk must be now be infinitesimal and by now the likeliest incubation periods must be well passed. People want to donate, but you have prevented this for decades.
I was told it was the American Red Cross and we come under them so have to follow their rules ( many moons ago), but from a one time 24 hour emergency (UK), universal donor and many pints donor in Bermuda, this is very frustrating.

Why can’t Bermuda negotiate their own special terms? We are in no way comparable to the largest economy (sometimes) and one of the largest countries in the world with hundreds of blood banks and thousands of hospitals!

By: sandgrownan

sandgrownan — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 20:07:40 +0000

It does, I’m one.

From the Google: Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad cow disease, also called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), is a fatal disease that slowly destroys the brain and spinal cord in cattle. People cannot get mad cow disease. However, in rare cases they can get a human form of mad cow disease called variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), which is also fatal.

The problem is the incubation period is in the order of years. It’s highly unlikely, 25 years on that it remains a significant risk, but there you go.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 19:41:49 +0000

I donated blood for many years but the BHB no longer wants my donation because I was in the UK for a few months during that period! Something to do with mad cow disease?

By: Ringmaster

Ringmaster — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 19:23:02 +0000

Google “mad cow disease”.

By: scoob

scoob — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:29:29 +0000

From the BHB factsheet it states that you are ineligible to donate if you

“have spent an accumulative total time of three months or more in United Kingdom and/or France between 1 January 1980 and 31 December 1996.”

Can anyone explain the rationale for this? It seems like it would be preventing lots of healthy potential donors.