Canadian Blood Services and travel to India
I give platelets every two weeks. This week I asked the screening nurse what impact will my trip to India have on my ability to donate blood. Here is the story.
Vaccinations
I will need to wait three months after I have had a vaccination before I can give blood again.
Travel to India
India is a place where you can potentially catch malaria. It takes up to a year for malaria symptoms to show up once you are infected. I will need to wait for 1 year before I can give platelets again.
After six months I can donate source plasma. This is different from the normal plasma donation. They use source plasma to produce other products and do not give it directly to a patient.
The result
If I plan to go to India once a year to study with Nancy Gilgoff I will be unable to donate platelets, plasma or whole blood. I will be able to donate source plasma for about six months of the year, depending on how often I will need vaccinations. If I need vaccinations each year then I will only be able to donate source plasma for three months or so, depending on when the vaccinations are required to be taken prior to the trip.
That’s too bad.
Popularity: unranked [?]