Donating blood is a simple and painless act of charity, but some medical conditions or recent activities may preclude you from donating. Waiting periods are also necessary to ensure the safety of the blood supply. Answer pre-screening questions honestly and don’t be offended if you’re refused.
Many people are encouraged to donate blood, which can be a life-saving measure, especially if you have a rare blood type. If you’re accepted as a blood donor, you’ll be seated in a chair while a needle is inserted to collect blood, and you’ll be offered a light snack afterwards to prevent the dizzy sensations people sometimes get after donating blood. Giving blood is a wonderful act of charity, and it’s also relatively easy and painless; most major areas have a 24-hour blood donation center, and many blood banks sponsor blood collection units with mobile donor stations for on-the-go donors.
Because blood products are transfused into other people’s bodies, some medical conditions will preclude you from donating blood, due to the risk of passing something on to someone else. In other cases, waiting periods have been established for donating blood to make sure you are free of potentially harmful substances. All blood donors go through a pre-screening questionnaire, to make sure they are suitable, and you should always answer questions honestly and to the best of your knowledge before donating blood. Although all donated blood is screened before entering the blood bank, screening is expensive, and excluding potentially contaminated blood before it is collected is safe, reasonable, and cost-effective.
If you have certain conditions or have used intravenous drugs, you are definitely not eligible to donate blood. These conditions include blood-borne diseases such as hepatitis C, AIDS, and some sexually transmitted diseases. If you have an active infection anywhere in your body, have a cold or the flu, have a blood disorder such as haemophilia or hemochromatosis, have signs of jaundice, or have been exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, you you will be asked to refrain from donating blood. For your safety, if you are pregnant, weigh less than 110 pounds (50 kilograms), are anemic, have high blood pressure or a high fever, you will be asked to come back at a later date. Don’t be offended if you’re refused blood donation for any of these reasons: blood bank staff care about your safety and the patient’s health.
In other cases, a waiting period is needed to make sure the blood is safe to use. If you have recently been vaccinated for smallpox, measles, polio or hepatitis B, you are asked to wait between two weeks and two months. If you’ve had cancer, received a new organ, or received a blood transfusion, you must wait at least a year to donate blood. People who have traveled to or lived in malaria-affected countries are also advised to wait before donating blood, to ensure that malaria is not transmitted to a sick person. Waiting period requirements change, depending on the global health situation: people who have eaten meat in Britain, for example, are currently barred from donating blood due to prion concerns from bovine spongiform encephalitis. If there is a major outbreak somewhere in the world, recent visitors to that area should refrain from donating blood for at least a year, to keep the blood supply safe and clean.
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