For Carter Blood Care, the summer months are the thinnest in terms of donations. Apparently, their supply is critically low at the moment, despite their aggressive television campaign. So if you don’t have hepatitis B, or any other communicable disease, please go donate. Someday, it could be you who benefits from these blood drives. And you get a free cookie or piece of fruit when you donate, not to mention the satisfaction of helping your fellow man.
I don’t have hep B. I don’t have ANY communicable disease. But they won’t take my blood. Why? I’m gay.
Screw em.
Anyone who’s used intravenous drugs or been paid for sex also is permanently barred from donating blood.
Three questions are asked at screening.
Have you had sex with another man in the last ten years, or had sex with a man who has had sex with another man in the past ten years?
Do you recently had any tattoos?
Have you ever used IV drugs?
These are asked to screen out possible carriers of HIV, AIDS, hepatitis etc. They do screen all blood samples anyway, but these questions, if answered honestly can save a lot of time and money as well as lives.
AIDS and HIV can take up to ten years to show up. So even if a person does not show positive for it now and its been five years since their last “encounter”, that “encounter” being gay sex, or IV drug use or getting a tattoo, they can still contract these things.