Health news

ME patients face blood donation ban

8^th October 2010 - Patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis , also known as ME, Myalgic Encephalopathy, Post-viral fatigue syndrome, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), will be prevented from donating blood from 1^st November under new safety rules.

The change to who is barred from making donations applies to all four UK blood services and stems from recommendations by the UK Blood Services Standing Advisory Committee on the Care and Selection of Donors, and the Joint Professional Advisory Committee (JPAC).

What is ME?

ME is a debilitating condition which causes a wide range of symptoms, including fatigue, painful muscles and joints, and difficulty sleeping. 

It is currently estimated that a quarter of a million people are affected by ME. It can severely affect work, schooling and family life, and can last for months or even years.

Safeguarding donors

Up until now, blood donors with a history of ME have been eligible to give blood as long as they had made a full recovery and felt well. However, NHS Blood and Transplant says, because ME is a condition where people can relapse and become ill again, donor’s need to be safeguarded by ensuring their condition is not made worse by giving blood.

It says the ban on blood donations brings ME into line with other relapsing or neurological conditions of uncertain or unknown origin, such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson’s Disease.

Uncertainties

However, Dr Charles Shepherd, medical advisor to the ME Association, described the reason given for the ban as “disingenuous”.

The ME Association believes that the new rules are motivated by concerns that ME may be caused by a virus that can be transmitted through blood.

The virus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus or XMRV, was detected in 67% of 101 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome at the Whittemore Peterson Institute in the US. XMRV has also been linked to prostate cancer, although there is no proof that the virus causes either prostatecancer or ME.

Shepherd tells us that he urged the government’s chief medical officer last year that, given the current uncertainty, ME patients should be barred from giving blood. “We are obviously talking about a new retrovirus - an HIV-like virus - whose method of transmission we don’t fully understand and I think it’s only sensible that one takes a cautious approach to this infection if there is evidence that it is there in a certain group of people,” he says.

You can find out more about Myalgic Encephalitis (ME)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) here.