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European
Travel Deferral Policies
The American
Red Cross Blood Services follows the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) guidelines on donor deferral for travel and residence in the United
Kingdom and certain European
countries. The FDA guidelines
are intended to reduce the theoretical risk of transmitting vCJD or variant
Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease through
blood transfusions.
Variant
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease is a fatal disease that affects the brain and
central nervous system. The
disease can show up years after a person is infected. The cause of vCJD is
unknown but has been linked to eating beef infected with bovine spongiform
encephalopathy (mad cow disease). While there is currently no blood test to
detect the human form of mad cow disease, investigators are working on one.
The United Kingdom and European travel deferral rules
are:
Travel
or Residence in Europe:
- Defer
if donor traveled or
lived three months or more
cumulatively in the U.K.(England, Northern Ireland, Scotland,
Wales, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, and the
Falkland Islands) from the beginning of
January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1996
- Defer
if donor traveled or lived
cumulatively for 5 years or
more in Europe from January 1, 1980 until the present (note
this criterion includes time spent in the U.K. from 1980 through 1996)
- The United Kingdom Includes:
- Channel Islands
- England
- Falkland Islands
- Gibraltar
- Isle of Man
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland
- Wales
- Other European Countries at risk for vCJD include:
·
Albania
·
Austria
·
Belgium
·
Bosnia/Herzegovina
·
Bulgaria
·
Croatia
·
Czech Republic
·
Denmark
·
Finland
·
France
·
Germany
·
Greece
·
Hungary
·
Ireland (Republic of)
·
Italy
·
Kosovo
(Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)
·
Liechtenstein
·
Luxembourg
·
Macedonia
·
Montenegro (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)
·
Netherlands (Holland)
·
Norway
·
Poland
·
Portugal
·
Romania
·
Serbia (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)
·
Slovak Republic (Slovakia)
·
Slovenia
·
Spain
·
Sweden
·
Switzerland
·
Turkey
·
Yugoslavia (Federal Republic includes Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia)
· Defer if donor is a current or former U.S. military member, civilian military employee, or
dependent of a military member or civilian employee who resided at U.S. military bases in:
·
Northern
Europe (Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands) for 6 months or more from January 1, 1980 through December 31, 1990
·
Southern
Europe (Greece, Turkey, Spain, Portugal, and Italy) for 6 months or more from January 1, 1980 through December 31, 1996
Blood Transfusions in the United
Kingdom:
·
Defer donors who have received a blood
transfusion in the United Kingdom since 1980
to the present.
NOTE: Blood relatives of
patient with Cruetzfeldt-Jakob Disease are also indefinitely deferred from
donating blood. This would include the following: mother, father,
grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles and children.
Back to Eligibility
Requirements
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