Blood donation ban tied to mad cow disease lifted in Quebec. Will rest of Canada follow? | 24CA News

Health
Published 22.11.2023
Blood donation ban tied to mad cow disease lifted in Quebec. Will rest of Canada follow?  | 24CA News

Quebec’s blood provide company says Health Canada has lifted a longstanding ban on blood donations within the province that stemmed from worry of mad cow illness.

Hema-Quebec vice-president Dr. Marc Germain says it’s clear that there’s now nearly no danger of transmitting variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease by way of new blood transfusions.

For twenty years, individuals who lived or travelled within the United Kingdom or France for lengthy intervals of time within the Eighties and Nineties haven’t been allowed to donate blood in case they have been uncovered.

Hema-Quebec says the change will come into impact Dec. 4.

Canadian Blood Services has additionally requested Health Canada to raise the ban in the remainder of the nation.


Click to play video: 'Demand Outpacing Donations'

Demand Outpacing Donations


It says Health Canada is predicted to decide quickly.

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The United States and Australia each lifted comparable bans in 2022.

Both Canadian Blood Services and Hema-Quebec say they’ve turned away 1000’s of donors whose journey within the United Kingdom and Europe a long time in the past disqualified them.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Nov. 22, 2021.

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