FDA Strikes to Ease Guidelines for Blood Donations from Homosexual Males

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is transferring to additional ease restrictions on blood donations from homosexual and bisexual males and different teams that sometimes face larger dangers of HIV.

The Meals and Drug Administration on Friday introduced draft pointers that may cast off the present three-month abstinence requirement for donations from males who’ve intercourse with males. As an alternative, all potential donors can be screened with a brand new questionnaire that evaluates their particular person dangers for HIV primarily based on sexual habits, current companions, and different components.

If finalized, many homosexual and bisexual males in monogamous relationships would have the ability to donate blood for the primary time in many years. It’s the most recent transfer by the FDA to broaden donor eligibility, with the potential to spice up donations.

“We really feel assured that the security of the blood provide shall be maintained,” FDA’s Dr. Peter Marks instructed reporters.

Homosexual rights teams have lengthy opposed blanket restrictions on who may give blood, saying they discriminate towards the LGBTQ group. Medical societies together with the American Medical Affiliation have additionally mentioned such exclusions are pointless given advances in expertise to check blood for infectious ailments.

“Present and former blood donation insurance policies made unfounded assumptions about homosexual and bisexual males and actually entangled people’ identification with their probability of getting HIV,” mentioned Sarah Warbelow of the Human Rights Marketing campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy group.

The U.S. and plenty of different nations began blocking blood donations from homosexual and bisexual males in the course of the early 1980’s AIDS epidemic, aiming to forestall the unfold of HIV by means of the blood provide.

In 2015, the FDA dropped the lifetime ban and changed it with a one-year abstinence requirement. Then in 2020, the company shortened the abstinence interval to a few months, after donations plummeted in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regulators mentioned there was no adverse impression on the blood provide as a outcomes of these adjustments.

The FDA units necessities and procedures for blood banks all through the U.S. All potential donors reply questions on their sexual historical past, injectable drug use and any current tattoos or piercing, amongst different components that may contribute to the unfold of blood-borne infections. Donated blood is then examined for HIV, hepatitis C, syphilis, and different infectious ailments.

Beneath the brand new proposal, males who’ve intercourse with males shall be requested if they’ve had new or a number of companions within the final three months. Those that reply affirmatively to both query and in addition report having anal intercourse can be barred from donating till a later date. The coverage would additionally apply to ladies who’ve intercourse with homosexual or bisexual males.

Anybody who has ever examined constructive for HIV would proceed to be ineligible to donate blood. These taking capsules to forestall HIV would additionally nonetheless be barred, till three months after their final dose. The FDA famous that the treatment, often known as PrEP, can delay the detection of the virus in screening exams.

Marks mentioned the company is prepared to think about additional easing restrictions “however we’ve got to have the science to do this.”

FDA regulators will take public feedback on the proposal for 60 days earlier than starting to finalize the rules.

The proposed coverage mirrors these utilized in Canada and the U.Okay.

The FDA primarily based its newest proposal, partly, on a current examine of 1,600 homosexual and bisexual males. The FDA-funded analysis in contrast the effectiveness of an in depth, customized questionnaire on sexual habits to the present time-based abstinence guidelines.

It’s going to take a number of months for blood banks to make the adjustments, in accordance with Cliff Numark, an government with Vitalant, a blood heart that participated within the examine. The adjustments would require new questionnaires, coaching for employees and updating pc software program.

The Purple Cross mentioned it helps the FDA adjustments however added that it’s too early to know if they’ll end in extra blood donations.

Lukas Pietrzak of Washington D.C., mentioned he eagerly volunteered for the FDA examine. He credit emergency blood transfusions with saving his father’s life after a biking accident in 1991.

Pietrzak donated blood in highschool however grew to become ineligible after changing into sexually lively as a homosexual man.

“Till I totally got here out to my buddies, I needed to skirt round why I by no means went to blood drives with them,” says Pietrzak, 26, who now works for the federal authorities.

When there are requires blood donations “now we’re capable of be a part of that,” Pietrzak mentioned.

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