Science&Health: Potential donors undergo strict screening process
By Diana Whitaker
Oct. 24, 2006 9:00 p.m.
Though blood transfusions have the potential to save lives, the
high-risk nature of blood donations make for a strict screening
process for donors.
“We consider both the health and safety of the donor, as
well as the recipient, in making the evaluation,” said Jaime
Rivas, platelet coordinator at the UCLA Blood and Platelet
Center.
According to the center’s guidelines, which comply with
Food and Drug Administration regulations, donors cannot have had
cold or flu symptoms in the 24 hours before they donate and cannot
have had dental work, including teeth cleaning, in that time
period.
Other groups which are deferred include people who have had a
tongue, nose or genital piercing or a tattoo in the last 12
months.
“This is to prevent the transmission of hepatitis,”
said Linda Goss, outreach and recruitment coordinator at the UCLA
Blood and Platelet Center.
Blood transfusion recipients are 7,000 times more likely to
transmit hepatitis in a blood transfusion than HIV, she added.
Hepatitis is also much more difficult to detect in blood
screening because of its unique nature.
“It can be in any blood component ““ platelets, blood
cells, plasma ““ because it’s a viral disease,”
Rivas said.
HIV, on the other hand, can be detected by checking for
antibodies, which are present in the plasma of the blood, according
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
HIV attacks the white blood cells of the immune system and may
lead to AIDS when the body can no longer protect itself from common
viruses and other diseases.
To spot high-risk donors, each potential blood donor must fill
out a survey, answering 42 questions that may lead them to be
deferred for a year or receive an indefinite referral, when they
are prevented from ever donating blood.
One of the questions that would lead to a permanent deferral is
whether the person has ever injected drugs that were not prescribed
by a doctor.
“This behavior is high-risk for transmitting hepatitis and
AIDS,” Rivas said.
People who have lived in Europe for a total of five years or
more since 1980 are also not allowed to donate blood.
This is a preventative measure for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease,
which is similar to mad cow disease and can be transferred through
blood, Rivas said.
According to the CDC, the one reported case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob
disease in the United States was in a young woman who contracted it
while residing in the U.K. and developed symptoms after moving to
the United States.
Malaria, also carried in blood, is caused by a parasite
transmitted by mosquitoes, said Jean Leavitt, clinical lab
scientist in pathology and lab medicine at UCLA. Anyone who has
taken anti-malaria medication and traveled to a malaria risk area
must wait 12 months before donating blood, and must wait three
years if the person has had malaria or emigrated from a malaria
risk area, she said.
Another geographical consideration is whether the person has
lived in or visited Central West Africa.
“There is a strain of AIDS that cannot be detected in any
tests we have,” Rivas said.
People who have been to jail recently may be turned down as
well.
“If you were imprisoned for more than three days then you
have to wait a year to donate blood,” Rivas said. “This
is because of the risk for hepatitis and AIDS and other
diseases.”
