I was listening to the American military radio here in Korea and they invited soldiers to donate blood with some exceptions:
- if you’ve been shorter than 30 days in Korea
- if you got a tatoo in the last 6 months
- if you lived in Europe for more than 5 years
I really wonder what could have happened to someone who lived in Europe for more than 5 years which triggered this particular exception.
otter@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
My guess is that it’s related to mad cow disease, and it hasn’t been updated in a while? I couldn’t find anything when I searched
Here is ours, and the history behind some of the changes blood.ca/…/changes-donation-criteria-blood-donati…
Papanca@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I am not allowed to give blood, because i once got a blood transfusion in the eighties and i have a tiny, tiny risk of infecting people with mad cow disease. I only found out when i decided to give blood some years back and found out i am not allowed to.
Papanca@lemmy.world 1 year ago
And to clarify; i live in Europe
jeena@jemmy.jeena.net 1 year ago
Ah yeah, that sounds about right, the 5 years incubation time and so on. Thanks!
Nighed@sffa.community 1 year ago
Mad cow disease can take decades to have an effect. If you are some infected meat and have the wrong genetics you could wind up with a sponge for a brain 30 years later.
Prions are terrifying.
AmidFuror@kbin.social 1 year ago
The five years is just due to cumulative risk. Someone decided to make that the cutoff.