Reply #119: I gave blood last week.

[Renew Deal]

They ask a load of unambiguous questions about men having sex with men, using illegal drugs, tattoos, sharing needles, and some other stuff. The HIV eligibility questions are below. They want to screen out any men that have had sex with men since 1977, and any women that may have had sex with men that did that. It's not just targeted at men, but women that have been with those men too. Also, men that had sex with men prior to 1977 are eligible. This is obviously about risk minimization. I'd be interested in the true numbers that fit these categories that are susceptible to AIDS. They probably run this stuff through a benefit-loss calculation. If the risk is high enough it becomes detrimental to the organization to deal with.

I've always wondered why women who have had sex with men haven't been screened out.

My feeling is that they should allow people to donate if they believe they are uninfected. They do allow everyone to donate if it's going to cause the individual embarrassment if they don't donate. They offer you two bar code stickers to put on the form. One means "donate my blood" and the other is "do not use my blood." This is done just in case someone is pressured into doing it.

http://www.redcross.org/en/eligibility#hiv

HIV, AIDS
You should not give blood if you have AIDS or have ever had a positive HIV test, or if you have done something that puts you at risk for becoming infected with HIV.
You are at risk for getting infected if you:

have ever used needles to take drugs, steroids, or anything not prescribed by your doctor
are a male who has had sexual contact with another male, even once, since 1977
have ever taken money, drugs or other payment for sex since 1977
have had sexual contact in the past 12 months with anyone described above
received clotting factor concentrates for a bleeding disorder such as hemophilia
were born in, or lived in, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea,Gabon, Niger, or Nigeria, since 1977.
since 1977, received a blood transfusion or medical treatment with a blood product in any of these countries, or
had sex with anyone who, since 1977, was born in or lived in any of these countries.