Blog

Some Brits living in the Netherlands may have discovered that you are not permitted to donate blood. There is a specific British blood donation ban here. Well, there’s a British blood donation ban just about everywhere actually.

Why is There a British Blood Donation Ban in the Netherlands?

First things first. Ineligibility is not applicable to all Brits. In fact, it’s not necessarily related to being British at all. If you lived for more than 6 months in the UK between 1980 and 1996, or received blood in that period in the UK, you are ineligible to be a blood donor in the Netherlands. Some countries won’t accept donations from those that lived in France or the Republic of Ireland during that same period either.

The same rule applies to donating breast milk, which you can do here in the Netherlands.

Mad Cow Disease

If you are a young or a non-Brit reader, none of this will likely make any sense to you. So here’s an explanation.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD, the human form of the bovine condition sometimes known as ‘mad cow disease’ or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)) was a major problem in the food chain in Britain. In short, cattle infected with BSE in the food chain infected people with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Authorities made the link between BSE and vCJD in 1996, and the British government swiftly introduced preventive measures.

What is Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease?

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare and fatal condition that affects the brain. It causes brain damage that worsens rapidly over time.

NHS

Within a year of symptoms showing, most patients die. In other words, this is not a disease you take chances with.

Since 1995, when it was identified, 178 deaths have been attributed to vCJD. It’s thought that one in 2,000 people in the UK is a carrier of the disease.

But it appears that relatively few who catch the infectious agent that causes the disease then go on to develop symptoms.

BBC

The Link to Donating Blood?

The problem is that the incubation period is not wholly clear, with the NHS stating that it could be more than ten years. And the prion (the protein particle that causes the disease) can be transmitted through blood. Additionally, there is no way of screening for it. Hence why those of us that could have been subjected to vCJD are not welcomed with open arms into the blood donor world in other countries.

Je mag helaas geen donor worden
In 1996 werd bij mensen een variant op de ziekte van Creutzfeldt-Jakob ontdekt. Deze hersenziekte wordt waarschijnlijk veroorzaakt door het eten van rundvleesproducten die besmet zijn met de gekkekoeienziekte (BSE). De meeste mensen met Creutzfeldt-Jakob zaten destijds in het Verenigd Koninkrijk.

De zeer zeldzame ziekte kan via bloed worden overgedragen, maar er bestaat helaas geen test om te kijken of je de ziekte hebt. Daarom is voor de zekerheid afgesproken dat je geen donor kunt worden als je tussen 1980 en 1996 langer dan 6 maanden in het Verenigd Koninkrijk bent geweest. Zo kun je niemand besmetten. We doen dit uit voorzorg, ook al is de kans erg klein dat je Creutzfeldt-Jakob hebt opgelopen.

Sanquin.nl

How Does Blood Donation Work in the UK?

I discovered the ban on donation when I tried to donate breast milk in 2007. And then I discovered that the same ban applied to blood donation too. I wondered how the heck the blood donation system worked in the UK, given this risk that no other country was willing to accept.

Obviously if the UK implemented the same rules as elsewhere, the entire blood donation system there would cease to exist. The risk of CJD through blood transfusion was deemed to be less of a risk to patients than empty blood banks so the same rules are not in operation.

Things Are Changing

Because of the time that has passed, the subsequent measures to significantly reduce any risk, and scientific research, there are some countries that now allow Brits, or rather those who lived in the UK between 1980 and 1996, to donate blood. Australia is one such example (as of July 2022) and the US’s FDA provided updated guidance earlier this year. Ireland dropped their ban in 2019. But for now, in the Netherlands, there is still a British blood donation ban.

Donate Blood and Plasma – Sanquin

Sanquin.nl is responsible for blood and plasma donation in the Netherlands. The organisation also played a not insignificant role during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands.

If the criteria above don’t apply to you, then you are free to donate blood, or at least get further through the questionnaire than I can. You can also volunteer to help at a blood bank.

The post British Blood Donation Ban in the Netherlands appeared first on Turning Dutch.