Blood donor limits extended in Australia
13 July 2003
To guard against the risk of the human equivalent of mad cow disease entering Australia's blood supply, people who received a transfusion of blood or of blood products in the UK from 1980 onwards will now be deferred from donating blood.
This move is in addition to the step Australia took in December 2000 of deferring blood donations from Australians who had resided in the UK for more than 6 months between 1980 and 1996, during the height of the mad cow disease crisis.
In announcing the new limit to donor eligibility, Senator Kay Patterson, the Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, said the change was in line with similar moves taken by countries like the United States, Canada and New Zealand.
'While the risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), the human equivalent of mad cow disease, entering Australia's blood supply is remote, this action is a prudent precautionary measure designed to protect the health and safety of the community,' Senator Patterson said.
Senator Patterson said there is no record of any person in the world contracting vCJD through a blood transfusion and Australian cattle are free of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) ('mad cow disease'), the disease that has been linked to the occurence of vCJD in humans. Australia has recorded no cases of vCJD.
The deferral of blood donation by people affected under the new limitation is not expected to adversely affect the supply of blood, which relies completely on donations from the Australian community.
Anyone who believes they are in the new donor deferral category should contact their local Australian Red Cross Blood Service centre to discuss this issue.
Last Reviewed: 14 July 2003
