Posted on 01/15/2006 12:54:30 AM PST by presidio9
A gay man with full-blown Aids donated blood on Friday -- after lying about his sexual practices, the SA National Blood Transfusion Service (SANBTS) has been told.
This, after the blood bank reiterated its refusal to accept donations from men who have had sex with men in the past five years.
Reassuring the public that the infected blood would not be used, SANBTS spokesperson Ianthe Exall said every donation was still being tested for HIV/Aids and hepatitis.
She said Gay and Lesbian Alliance spokesperson David Baxter had told SANBTS marketing manager Gail Nothard that about 120 of its members had given blood on Friday after lying about their sexual activities.
One of them had full-blown Aids; 65% had engaged in high-risk behaviour.
The SANBTS had warned the GLA that it could be putting patients' lives at risk, said Exall.
She asked them to use the "honesty card" every donor was given while donating blood.
This contained the number of the blood donation and a telephone number to call if the donor felt their blood was not be safe for transfusion and should be withdrawn from stock.
Even though every blood donation was tested, the SANBTS relied on the honesty of people at risk of HIV infection to exclude themselves from donating blood, she said.
Exall said the exclusion of sexually active homosexual men as donors was not new.
"The SANBTS has in fact followed this policy for years and it is based on international practice and on data in international medical publications that men who have sex with men showed increased risk of HIV transmission and other blood infections," Exall said. - Sapa
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Quote "This, after the blood bank reiterated its refusal to accept donations from men who have had sex with men in the past five years."
Roll eyes here. I think one could easily say the same about straight men sleeping around with women. I assume these people are checking that as well? Most freepers are smart enough to realize that aids does not discriminate.
Actually, it's pretty rare for a guy to contract HIV from sexual activity with a woman, as opposed to contracting HIV from another man. If you are a woman or the "catcher" you have much higher likelihood of contracting the disease. This holds true even if condoms are used.
Also, most of the gay and/or bisexual guys I know are incredibly promiscuous. AIDS doesn't discriminate, but I see this as a reasonable question.
Yes it does. It is much more difficult to transmit from female to male than male to male or male to female. Also, homosexual men are very promiscuous. I read about one study that showed 43% of male homosexuals had 500+ sexual parners in a lifetime. I bet the proportion of heterosexual males with 500+ partners in a lifetime is substantially less. It would take almost ten years for someone who gets a new sex partner each week to reach 500. Gaetan Dugas a former flight attendant for Air Canada, the first person diagnosed with AIDS in North America, estimated he had had sex with at least 2,500 men.
I lived in England for more than 6 months since 1980, so I cannot donate blood. There are certain precautions they cannot take.
The guy who lied should be hunted and shot. I see it as attempted murder.
Your butt is not designed as a sperm receptacle, and this makes it way more receptive to infection by bugs than other parts of the human body.
Simply put and you are correct.
It isn't just AIDS/HIV they discriminate all blood borne diseases. I'm glad they do. Have a tattoo or body piercing in the last year? Sorry no donation today...
Sad to read this is happening. I am a 5 gallon + donor. The 35 or so questions asked each time you donate are meant to screen most current or potential HIV carriers. Also, the last thing one does is sign your name to the fact the answers are true and is O.K. to use the donation.
I was not aware of that rule, why is it? Does the US therefore consider British donated blood unsafe?
Kinda silly, isn't it? Scared of giving blood and scared of employer retribution?
Yes, the US considers British blood unsafe.
They are worried its recipients will start referring to their car's hood as a bonnet, its trunk as a boot, call wrenches spanners, and begin saying things like "pip pip" and "cheerio".
They may also begin bowing to the Queen.
This of course, would lead to chaos here in the good ol' U S of A, where we are supposed to bow to no one... except Congress.
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