Re:James Harrison, whose blood donations saved >2M babies, h...
by arp242 on Monday March 03, 2025 @05:11PM
(#43247474)
It's been a while since I last donated blood, but last time I checked some conditions are hard to reliably check for especially in the earlier stages. For example, if I remember correct HIV is hard to reliably detect for the first ~6 months or so, as is Hepatitis B and some other conditions.
This is why you get a questionary every time asking whether you had unprotected sex, recently had a tattoo, etc.
Re:James Harrison, whose blood donations saved >2M babies, h...
by YokoZar on Monday March 03, 2025 @06:43PM
(#43248230)
Those tests are faster now, however what remains entirely untested is simple sickness like colds. That's why you're supposed to call them if you get a cold within a few days of donating, they have no other way of knowing.
Now if you are talking about undetectable or uncommon I could understand, but that just shows a fault in the testing process.