To add some
Australian content:
In order to give blood in any Australian state you must:
Weigh at least 45 kg
Be in good health
Aged between 16 and 70 (18 in Tas)
Meet the guidelines that are designed to
protect you and the people who receive your
blood
The questionnaire: (varies slightly from state to state)
Have you:
1. Ever volunteered to donate blood before?
If yes - where and when?
2. Ever been advised not to give blood?
3. Ever suffered from anaemia or any blood
disorder?
4. Ever had a serious illness, operation or been
admitted to hospital?
5. Had a neurosurgical procedure involving head,
brain or spinal cord between 1972 and 1989?
6. Ever received a transplant or graft (organ,
cornea, dura mater, bone etc)?
7. Received injections of human growth hormone
for short stature or human pituitary hormone for
infertility prior to 1986?
Note: Human growth hormone prescribed for children suffering growth hormone deficiency pre-1986 was collected from pituitary glands from human cadavers and was found to be responsible for the transmission of Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD) in several cases. These days products such as Humatrope, Protropin and Nutropin contain somatropin synthesised using recombinant DNA technology.
Take a peek at http://www.cjdsupport.org.au/ or http://members.tripod.com/~cjdhome/
Have you:
8. Ever suffered head injury, stroke or epilepsy?
9. Ever had a heart or blood pressure problem,
rheumatic fever, or heart murmur or chest pain?
10. Ever had a bowel disease, stomach or
duodenal problems or ulcers?
11. Ever had kidney, liver or lung problems
including tuberculosis (TB)?
12. Ever had diabetes, a thyroid disorder or an
autoimmune disease eg rheumatoid arthritis or
lupus?
13. Ever had cancer of any kind including
melanoma?
14. Ever had malaria, Ross River fever, Q fever,
leptospirosis or Chagas’ disease?
15. Ever had (yellow) jaundice or hepatitis?
16. Traveled or lived overseas in the last 3 years?
17. Ever had treatment with the medication
TIGASON (Etretinate) or NEOTIGASON
(Acitretin)?
Every time you donate we ask you to answer
some questions about your general health to
help us to decide firstly if it is safe for you to
give blood, and if so, how we can best use
your blood. These questions include:
Today:
1. Are you completely fit and well?
2. Women only
Are you pregnant or breast-feeding or have you
been pregnant in the last 9 months?
For Safety Reasons:
3. In the next 3 days, do you intend to participate in
any activity which would place you or others at risk
of injury if you were to become unwell after
donating, such as:
Driving public transport
Operating heavy machinery
Underwater diving
Piloting a plane
In the last week have you:
4. Had any dental work, cleaning, fillings or
extractions?
5. Taken aspirin, pain killers or anti-inflammatory
preparations?
6. Had any cuts, abrasions, sores or rashes?
7. Had a gastric upset, diarrhoea, abdominal pain
or vomiting? Note: Diarrhoea and vomiting may both cause dehydration, making it difficult or dangerous to collect the required amount of blood
Since your last donation, or in the last 12
months have you:
8. Visited a doctor for any illness or surgery?
9. Had chest pain/angina or an irregular heartbeat?
10. Taken tablets for acne or skin condition?
11. Taken any other medication?
12. Worked in an abattoir?
13. Been overseas? Note: People who have lived in England (and possibly Europe, there is ongoing debate on this topic) in the last 3 years are being now being asked not to donate blood due to the outbreaks of Mad Cows Disease
14. Had a sexually transmitted disease eg
gonorrhoea syphilis or herpes?
15. Had any immunisations/vaccinations?
16. Had shingles or chickenpox?
17. Do you know of anyone in your family who had
or has:
Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease (CJD)
Gerstmann Straussler-Scheinker syndrome
(GSS)
Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI)?
There are some people in the community who
MUST NOT give blood as it may transmit
infections to people who receive it. So before
you give blood we need you to answer some
questions to ensure that it will be safe for
people to be given your blood or blood
products. The following questions are a vital
part of our effort to eliminate these diseases
from the blood supply.
To the best of your knowledge have you:
1. In the last 6 months had an illness with swollen
glands and a rash, with or without a fever?
2. Ever thought you could be infected with HIV or
have AIDS?
3. Ever "used drugs" by injection or been injected,
even once, with drugs not prescribed by a doctor or
dentist?
4. Ever had treatment with clotting factors such as
Factor VIII of Factor IX?
5. Ever had a test, which showed you, had Hepatitis
B, Hepatitis C, HIV or HTLV?
6. In the last 12 months engaged in sexual activity
with someone you might think would answer "yes"
to any of questions (1-5)?
7. Since your last donation or in the last 12 months
had sexual activity with a new partner who currently
lives or has previously lived overseas?
Within the last 12 months have you:
8. Had male to male sex?
9. Had sexual activity with a male who you think
might be bisexual?
10. Been a male or female sex worker (eg received
payment for sex in money, gifts or drugs)?
11. Engaged in sexual activity with a male or
female sex worker?
12. Been injured with a used needle (needlestick)?
13. Had a blood/body fluid splash to eyes, mouth,
nose or to broken skin?
14. Had a tattoo (including cosmetic tattooing), skin
piercing, electrolysis or acupuncture? Note: several years ago, (I don’t knowwhether this is still current) it was permitted to give blood 3 months after ear or nose piercing done in a hairdresser’s salon, but any other piercings required a waiting period of 12 months.
15. Been imprisoned in a prison or lock-up?
16. Had a blood transfusion?
17. Had (yellow) jaundice or hepatitis or been in
contact with someone who has?
All donations of blood are tested for the presence
of Hepatitis B and C, HIV 1 and 2 (AIDS virus),
syphilis, and HTLV I and II.
Questionnaire from http://www.arcbs.redcross.org.au/
During pre-donation tests, blood iron levels and blood pressure are also taken, and donation will be refused if results are outside a given range. Clinic workers have also begun asking about family histories of the genetically inherited, common iron-accumulation disorder haemochromatosis, as blood donation is the recommended treatment for managing the disease. The risk factors- if any- for receiving blood from a haemochromatosis sufferer are not known. .
Check this out: http://www.gesa.org.au/patient_inf/c2_2.htm
I must admit, the battery of questions and tests have made me slack at giving blood. I was somewhat offended several years ago when I found that I couldn’t donate for 12 months due to an eyebrow piercing. At the time, the waiting period following ear or nose piercing in a hairdresser’s salon was 3 months, whereas all other piercings, no matter whether they could be verified as sterile or not, got you booted for a year. At the time I wondered whether getting a slightly unusual piercing (well it was at that time and place) meant that you were more likely to be involved in high-risk activities. I got over it. If my answers on the questionnaire mean I get turned away, so be it. Fuck being offended, no matter how sure I am that I’m fine,if there’s the slightest, tiniest, most infinitesimal chance that I could be giving another human being a death sentence or a nasty illness, I ain’t gonna do it. Not that I’m an angel, I often go to work when I’ve got the flu.