A gay man with full-blown Aids donated blood on Friday — after lying about his sexual practices, the SA National Blood Transfusion Service (SANBTS) has been told.
This, after the blood bank reiterated its refusal to accept donations from men who have had sex with men in the past five years.
Reassuring the public that the infected blood would not be used, SANBTS spokesperson Ianthe Exall said every donation was still being tested for HIV/Aids and hepatitis.
She said Gay and Lesbian Alliance spokesperson David Baxter had told SANBTS marketing manager Gail Nothard that about 120 of its members had given blood on Friday after lying about their sexual activities.
One of them had full-blown Aids; 65% had engaged in high-risk behaviour.
The SANBTS had warned the GLA that it could be putting patients’ lives at risk, said Exall.
She asked them to use the ”honesty card” every donor was given while donating blood.
This contained the number of the blood donation and a telephone number to call if the donor felt their blood was not be safe for transfusion and should be withdrawn from stock.
Even though every blood donation was tested, the SANBTS relied on the honesty of people at risk of HIV infection to exclude themselves from donating blood, she said.
Exall said the exclusion of sexually active homosexual men as donors was not new.
”The SANBTS has in fact followed this policy for years and it is based on international practice and on data in international medical publications that men who have sex with men showed increased risk of HIV transmission and other blood infections,” Exall said. – Sapa