No more mad cow worries, banned blood donors can give again

Matt Schermerhorn talks about donating blood at the Impact Life blood center, Friday, Nov. 11, 2022, in Davenport, Iowa. Schermerhorn, 58, is among thousands of current and former military members and civilians who have returned to blood centers across the country after federal health officials lifted a longstanding ban this spring. Its a responsibility. Its a civic duty, said Schermerhorn, who donated on Veterans Day at the ImpactLife center in Davenport.

“It’s a responsibility. It’s a civic duty,” said Schermerhorn, who donated on Veterans Day at the ImpactLife center in Davenport, Iowa. “You really don't have to go out of your way too much to help your fellow man.”lived, worked or vacationed The rare disease is caused by an abnormal form of a protein called a prion, which triggers damaging changes to the brain and central nervous system. It’s spread from sick cattle to people who eat contaminated beef, but it can also be transmitted through blood transfusions.

The American Red Cross, which provides about 40% of the U.S. supply, last month began accepting donors previously deferred because of the risk of mad cow disease, formally known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or vCJD. “We feel good about that as a first effort,” Armitage said. “We know there are folks that we haven’t reached yet."

Schermerhorn stayed away for years -- until he saw a local news story about the recent change. He's donated his rare type O-negative blood eight times since last year.

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No more mad cow worries, banned blood donors can give againU.S. Army veteran Matt Schermerhorn couldn’t give blood for years because he was stationed in Europe during a deadly mad cow disease scare there. Now, he’s proud to be back in the donor’s chair. Schermerhorn, 58, is among thousands of people, including current and former military members, who have returned to blood donation centers across the country after federal health officials lifted a ban that stood for more than two decades. Now do the ban on gay men donating blood. I gave blood last week and was still asked those questions? WeAreBlood Still not gay men who had sex recently though huh?
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No more mad cow worries, banned blood donors can give againBlood centers in the U.S. are scrambling to track down hundreds of thousands of former donors turned away because of worries about mad cow disease in Europe more than two decades ago.
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