Quote:
|
Originally Posted by PeeWee
How many years did it take us to clean up our blood supply here in the United States? Quite a few. I gave blood for many years. There was a questionnaire looking for hepatitis and possible aids carriers. One question dealt with your travels to Africa.
If you need transfusions in Africa there is a strong chance of getting bad blood. This is a potential problem. |
I want to cue in on this since I am a blood banker with the Armed Forces Blood Program.
Standard FDA blood donation questions on Africa refer to being born in, traveling to, or living in an African country after 1977, or having an intimate relationship with an individual who was born in, lived in, or traveled to an African country since 1977.
Most suspect is the blood pool in Africa, but mainly for certain countries
HIV Risk: Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic, and Equatorial Guinea.
Malaria: African Continent Endemic
I personally would not like to be on receiving end of any blood coming from anyone in an African country whether they were local or not. The risk of
AIDS,
hepatitis,
Malaria,
trypanasomiasis, or other potentially fatal diseases is too great.
I believe that the people wanting to take this trip are going to have to put safety first, but it may all work out.
Just my $.02
Steve