[The impact of the implementation of staying in the United Kingdom for six months or more as donor exclusion criteria on the donor base of the Basque Country].

BACKGROUND

To reduce the risk of new variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease by blood products some countries exclude persons who have spent six months or more cumulatively in the United Kingdom as blood donors.

METHOD: We asked our donors about this selection criteria to evaluate the loss of blood donors and donations in case of implementation of this measure.

RESULTS

11,681 donors and 1,648 refused persons were analyzed. 123 (1.05%) and 11 (0.66%) respectively fulfilled this criteria.

CONCLUSIONS

In case of implementation of this selection criteria 1% of blood donors and 1.77% blood donations would be lost.