I was listening to the American military radio here in Korea and they invited soldiers to donate blood with some exceptions:
- if you’ve been shorter than 30 days in Korea
- if you got a tatoo in the last 6 months
- if you lived in Europe for more than 5 years
I really wonder what could have happened to someone who lived in Europe for more than 5 years which triggered this particular exception.
My guess is that it’s related to mad cow disease, and it hasn’t been updated in a while? I couldn’t find anything when I searched
Here is ours, and the history behind some of the changes https://www.blood.ca/en/blood/am-i-eligible/changes-donation-criteria-blood-donation
Ah yeah, that sounds about right, the 5 years incubation time and so on. Thanks!
Mad cow disease can (sometimes/possibly) take decades to have an effect. If you are some infected meat and have the wrong genetics you could wind up with a sponge for a brain 30 years later.
Prions are terrifying.
The five years is just due to cumulative risk. Someone decided to make that the cutoff.