A good liar can subvert the bans simply by not answering truthfully prior to donation. One fly in the ointment is that the whole system is predicated on the assumption that donors will be honest about their lifestyle choices. With such diligence, it is unlikely that any infected sample would be transferred.
Sperm samples are mandated to be quarantined for a minimum of 6 months and then retested (with the donor tested serially) for infectious agents before semen is released for insemination. General health indicators are also measured, and donors are also screened to see if they are carriers of genetic disorders like cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell disease, thalassemias, or other hemoglobin-related blood disorders. Sperm donors are subjected to an even more intensive regimen of tests, with blood and urine tested for HIV, HTLV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, and cytomegalovirus.
Although a blood donor’s recent HIV infection may not be detected by standard HIV tests, improvements in testing technology have narrowed the window for detection to no more than a few weeks. All donated blood is tested for infectious agents, including hepatitis viruses, HIV, human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV), West Nile virus, Trypanosoma cruzi, and syphilis. The integrity of the blood supply (and the sperm supply, for that matter) can be assured based on the steps now mandated before any biological product can be transferred to another human. This is an appalling double standard.īillions of research dollars later, we now have reliable and low-cost screens for multitudes of infectious diseases and genetic abnormalities. Essentially, a heterosexual man can have unprotected anal sex with female prostitutes for years, stop doing so, and then donate blood a year later, whereas a gay man in a monogamous relationship who practices safe sex is forever barred from donation. Homosexuality is placed in the same risk group with prostitution and intravenous drug use, yet heterosexuals who engage in unsafe behavior are allowed to donate after a sufficient waiting period. Unfortunately, these bans further perpetuate the stigma that associates gay men with HIV. Despite this, in an effort to further curb the spread of HIV, the FDA also imposed a ban on anonymous sperm donation by gay men. In fact, the CDC estimated that at the end of 2007, more than 571,000 people in the United States were living with HIV/AIDS, but only slightly more than half of those cases were a result of male-to-male sexual contact, with the fastest growing risk group being heterosexuals. HIV was identified as the cause of AIDS two years later and, after an HIV screening test was developed, the FDA mandated HIV screening for the blood supply in 1985.īack in 1981, it made sense to exclude gay men from blood donation, but now transmission of HIV through blood transfusion is extremely rare - less than 1% of all new HIV infections, according to the CDC. Blood safety officials took the step of excluding from blood donation those emerging as the first “risk groups”: gay men. Little was known about the then-mystery syndrome, but it was soon recognized that it was transmissible through blood products. As critics have pointed out, these revised recommendations would rule out gay men in monogamous relationships-but still allow heterosexual men or women who have had multiple sexual partners in the past year to donate blood.Soon after an epidemic was recognized in gay men in 1981, individuals who received blood transfusions also began developing a disease that ultimately would be termed AIDS. A standard test that looks for an immune response to HIV can find infections after about a 25 day window.
The rationale for the one year abstinence period, according to the FDA, is that tests do not pick up recent infections.
In December 2015, the FDA revised its recommendations-allowing gay men to donate blood-but only if they have been abstinent for the past 12 months. But as testing for HIV become routine, even the medical community began rallying for an overhaul. Scientists knew little about the new virus, and fear was running high. The FDA first put a complete ban on blood donations from men who have ever had sex with men in 1983, during the early days of the AIDS epidemic. As volunteers this morning lined up to donate blood for the victims, one of the Food and Drug Administration's most controversial policies came into focus: Men who have had sex with other men in the past year are not allowed to give blood. Last night, a gunman killed at least 50 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando and wounded dozens more.