Reply #66: Our concern is collecting as much blood as possible...

[brewens]

with little or no risk to our staff at the blood drive or in the processing lab. We aren't in the business of treating sick people. We attempt to screen high risk individuals before they donate because we can't test them beforehand and can't verify any testing they tell us about. Our staff uses the universal precautions but we don't draw high risk donors because the FDA tells us we can't.
It's not any more of an issue than any other STD. For the most part people with any other STD can't donate either. Same with anyone with hepatitis, a virus or any bacterial infection.