Residency in certain countries or geographic regions or extended travel to those areas, or sexual contact with someone who was born in or lived in those areas may make you ineligible to donate.
The following diseases are associated with travel and stays outside of the United States.
HIV
You may not donate blood if:
- You were born in, a permanent resident of, or a visitor who stayed six months or more in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Zambia, or Nigeria since 1977.
- You have had sexual contact with anyone who was born in or who has lived in any of the above African countries since 1977.
- You have received a blood transfusion while you were in any of the above African countries since 1977.
Malaria
If you have been diagnosed with malaria or traveled to an area where malaria is prevalent, you may still donate blood if it has been:
More than three years since:
- You last experienced symptoms of malaria.
- You were a resident for five years or more of an area that is endemic for malaria.
More than one year since:
- You returned from any other area where malaria is prevalent and are free of malarial symptoms.
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Mad Cow Disease)
The US Food and Drug Administration has issued new rules regarding donor criteria based on travel to countries where there are cases of the human form of Mad Cow Disease known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD). The basis of the rule is the theoretical risk of transmission of the disease by blood transfusion. The risk is considered theoretical because there has been no case documented where blood transmission of vCJD has occurred in humans.
You may not donate blood if:
- You spent three or more months cumulatively in the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar or the Falkland Islands) from 1980 through 1996.
- You spent five years or more cumulatively in Europe (including the United Kingdom from 1980 through 1996) from 1980 to the present.
- You received a blood transfusion in the United Kingdom or France since 1980.
- You were a member of the US military from 1980 through 1996, a civilian military employee, or a dependent of a member of the U.S. military and spent six months or more at a US military base in any of the following countries:
- From 1980 to 1990: Belgium, the Netherlands, or Germany
- From 1980 to 1996: Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, or Greece
Additional Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy Precautions
You may not donate blood if you have obtained and been injected with any non-US licensed drug products made from cattle since 1980 (eg. Bovine insulin).
