FDA expert panel to vote on changing blood-donor rules


10/22/2004


Following a two-day meeting, a panel of outside experts convened by the FDA today will vote on the whether to recommend changing the agency’s blood donation guidelines, Dow Jones reports. In light of new studies revealing that the West Nile Virus can be active for up to 49 days, the panel will decide if the agency should increase the amount of time that individuals suspected of having the disease should be prohibited from donating blood. Currently, prospective donors who have the virus or its symptoms are asked to defer their donation for 28 days; if adopted, the new guidelines would extend the deferral period to 56 days. In addition, because new blood tests can screen for West Nile, the panel will decide if it still is necessary to turn away donors who have symptoms such as headache and fever. Meanwhile, Dow Jones notes that the FDA will consider allowing individuals who have tested positive for Hepatitis B but never developed the virus to be retested once more accurate tests are on the market; individuals who have tested positive for Hepatitis B currently are “permanently banned from donating blood,� but experts note that about 500,000 to one million potential donors are turned away because of false-positive Hepatitis B tests (Corbett Dooren, Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal, 10/21).

Pamela Ruyle, Coordinator
Washoe Medical Center
Reno, NV