Ok, maybe I'm being a bit dim here, but could someone please explain to me why gay men can't donate blood?

[yorkshirepudding]

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I think that sounds bizarre. what could possibly be the reason?!?

HIV I guess.

HIV but I didn't realise they couldn't officially - all blood is screened and treated anyway so I wouldn't of thought it mattered.

but there is surely just as much chance that I love anal sex and h\ve HiV (which I do not btw)

Last time I went to donate blood, they also asked if I'd had sex in Africa in the last two years.

No, I said. Are you offering?

It's because of homophobia, not HIV.

You can be a gay man who is absolutely sure that you are HIV negative (because you had a test done and have not done anything risky since) and not be allowed to give blood.

You can be a heterosexual person who doesn't know their HIV status and is in fact HIV+, and still give blood.

Homophobic - and irrational. And dangerous, because it perpetuates a very out of date myth that only gay men need to worry about HIV, whereas globally it is a MUCH bigger problem for heterosexuals.

Wierd questions Holly - I had my honeymoon in Africa and so the answer would have been yes - wouldn't I have been able to give blood?

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is it somethign to do with the delay between possibly contracting HIV and it showing up in blood tests? although presumably this delay would be the same with anyone, so i'm not really sure if that's relevant.

But surely that's rubbish, my brother has been in the same relationship for years and they've both been tested.

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I can't give blood as I had a blood transfusion following a miscarriage in 1992.

As my lo is only 6 months old I have been tested in the last year for the full range of transmissable nasties - although my DH would probably say I'm a mad cow already .

The question of organ donation is also up in the air as they take into consideration personal medical history when people have had a previous transfusion.

I expect that anyone on the transplant waiting list, given the choice, would rather take the minute risk of having one of my organs, than die as a friend of mine did on the waiting list as a match wasn't found in time.

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They do ask you not to give blood if within the last twelve months you have had sex with a man who has had oral or anal sex with another man.

You also can't give blood if you have had a blood transfusion since 1980 (OK, that one's because of CJD, which they can't screen for, so a bit panicky) or if you have ever injected drugs (even once, no matter how long ago and no matter how many HIV tests you've passed with flying colours since then). I don't think it's homophobia any more than it's druggophobia. Just statistically certain groups are more at risk.

(i.e. I do think it's probably a misguided policy, but I don't think it's motivated by homophobia IYSWIM, just general paranoia)

Try going to America -- there you won't be able to donate blood at all because you're British...

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The test that they use on the blood used to be (and I'm not sure if this is still true or not) of the antibodies the infected person makes against the virus, rather than the virus itself.

There is a lag pahse between being infected, and having the virus in your body, and actually producing the antibidies. Thus there is a period where infected blood could teast as clear.

It isn't just gay men who are excluded from donating, it is also everyone else who may potentially have been in contact with the virus.

That's why I said "probably a misguided policy". I don't know whether it is (don't have enough knowledge of how likely it is that a virus (be it HIV or something else) could lie dormant for a long period of time before being detectable in tests), but it strikes me that way. But I think it's misguided-motivated-by-paranoia rather than misguided-motivated-by-homophobia, that's all.

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The virus doesn't avoind antibody production for very long at all. IIRC a matter of days.

It may lie dormant, and not produce symptoms for very variable periods of time, but that is a very different issue

and it isn't just gay people who are banned from donating, it is anyone who has taken part in a 'high risk' activity over a set period of time. It is to protect the blood stocks from the small risk of infected blood which has missed dtection.

Given that in the past people have been infected by blood transfusion, you can understand them taking every possible precaution