People who lived in UK between 1980 and 1996 can now give blood in some parts of Spain
Until recently, many people were excluded from donating because their time in Britain coincided with the outbreak of 'mad cow' disease
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), known as 'mad cow' disease, whose human variant is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), is the reason why many British people living in Spain haven't been able to donate blood since 2001. There was an outbreak of the disease in the UK between 1980 and 1996, which is why those who had lived there or received a blood transfusion there over that period were restricted from donating in Spain.
On 18 July this year, however, the Spanish Ministry of Health lifted the restriction, allowing each region to decide how to proceed. In Malaga province's case, a meeting was held on 13 November. As confirmed by director of the transfusion centre (CTTC) Gracia María García, "any donor who was a resident of the UK at that time will now be approved" without the need for special tests.
García added, "We have a large British population in Malaga province, so we will be one of the biggest beneficiaries of this measure, especially when we hold blood donation campaigns on both the west and eastern Costa del Sol."
- Where to give blood in Malaga province
This decision will be of great benefit to the province's blood reserves, which need between 200 and 250 bags a day depending on the season. The province does not reach this threshold, despite the efforts of donation and awareness campaigns. Given that there are more than 53,000 Brits living in the province of Malaga, 60% of whom are over the age of 55 and lived in the UK between 1980 and 1996, the lifting of this restriction can have a positive impact on the reserves, especially on the Costa del Sol. This also includes people of any nationality who lived in the UK over that period.
Donor selection
The donor selection guidelines indefinitely excluded those who had lived in the country for more than 12 cumulative months within that period, as well as those who had received blood transfusions. This requirement was included in Spain's transfusion protocols and as a question in the form people who want to donate have to fill out.
Scientific advances allow relaxation of rules for donating blood, with very low risk of transmission
Interestingly, there is no official communication from the Ministry of Health making public the decision from 18 July this year. Only some regional ministries announced it, among them the centre for transfusions in the Balearic Islands, which released the information on 21 July. This body stated that lifting the measure was possible thanks to scientific advances and "the current high standards of control and traceability", which has allowed the risk of transmission to be considered "extremely low".
Long incubation periods
Mad cow disease, including its human variant (vCJD), has a long incubation period, which can last decades. For this reason, Spain opted to maintain this preventive ban for more than 20 years.
The disease is a rare but serious neurodegenerative prion disorder. Symptoms usually appear progressively: sensory disturbances, tingling, pins and needles, pain in the limbs, difficulty concentrating and mild memory loss, as well as sleep problems. In the intermediate stage, there are coordination disorders such as stumbling when walking or falling, involuntary movements such as tremors and cognitive worsening (confusion, disorientation), speech and vision disturbances, while in the advanced stage there is severe dementia, total loss of mobility, severe difficulty in speaking and swallowing and progressive loss of consciousness. The disease is, however, very rare and there have been no cases in Europe for years.
