Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The Votes Are In!

The FDA voted yesterday to ban CFS patients from giving blood until they have more information on infectious agents and CFS!  It's about time.

A kind reader (Thank you, Luke!) just clarified that today's action was a recommendation from an advisory committee to the FDA, recommending they ban blood from ME/CFS patients.  The FDA hasn't actually taken action yet...

Sorry for the mistake - I'm so busy with holiday preparations that I must not have read the article carefully enough.

Here's another article from Bloomberg BusinessWeek on the recommendation.

6 comments:

Renee said...

It IS about time! Thanks for the info.

Peggy said...

It is about time..I have not given blood in years. I have always known that it would not be safe. I have also wondered about the blood I was given in 1986 although it was 6 years later that I came down with a bad case of "FLU" and later was diagnosed with CFS.

I appreciate all the work you do researching and sharing the info on this disaese and all that goes with it in our lives. Thank you!

Sue Jackson said...

Well, there's another very good reason for people with CFS not to give blood, for our own benefit. We have lower-than-normal blood volume to begin with, so we really can't spare any - it makes our OI much worse.

At least now it's official - this will really help to spread the word about ME/CFS being a serious illness.

Sue

Baffled said...

OMG we are SO behind the Eurpeans. I was wondering how long they were going to dawdle on this. How did medcine get so politicised?

Luke S said...

This is just a recommendation to the FDA for them to ban blood donations from CFS patients. It is not a ban from the FDA banning CFS patients from donating blood.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-12-15/chronic-fatigue-may-be-considered-in-blood-donations.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704694004576020321854485688.html

At Home on the Rock... said...

Here in Canada, we (people with CFS) are prohibited from donating blood too. They put this ban in place about April, I believe.

It was a great move...and for me...the first real admission (almost) that CFS is real and not just in our heads!