Should Hiv Testing Be Tested For Hiv?

Our nation has a major blood shortage which results in a national health crisis. States all over the nation are reporting the need for blood donors and the importance of having donors to help those who are directly affected. There has been a recent rise in shortage due to the increased demand of high complex surgeries which require a large supply of blood. McMillan reports, “just one liver transplant can take 120 units of donated blood” (Zabarenko, 2016). It is imperative to bring attention to this social problem, and begin to search for possible solutions, as well as identifying gaps in the policy before seeking policy revision. Experts indicate that “the only solution is for this problem is to persuade people to become donors” (Nagourney, 2009).

The United States Department of Health and Human Services has a pattern blood donation policies that is important to consider when evaluating their current policies. In the 1980s there was a lifetime ban on Haitians donating blood. There are notable parallels between the current MSM policy and the Haitian policy of the 80s. First, the high risk grouping was based on identity rather than behaviors. The policies were both based on assumption of high risk and stereotyping based on sexuality or race. Another shortcoming of the CDC has been the lack of representation of individuals who will be impacted by the policies. In both cases, Haitians and MSM have not been included in governing bodies that make these decisions. Finally, both policies

According to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 1.2 million individuals in the United States have HIV (about 14 percent of which are unaware of their infection and another 1.1 million have progressed to AIDS. Over the past decade, the number of HIV cases in the US has increased, however, the annual number of cases remains stable at about 50, 000 new cases per year. Within these estimates, certain groups tend to carry the burden of these disease, particularly the gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men (MSM) and among race/ethnic groups, Blacks/African American males remain disproportionately affected. (CDC)

“I feel that the recent ruling of the United States Army and Navy regarding the refusal of colored blood donors is an indefensible one from any point of view. As you know, there is no scientific basis for the separation of the bloods of different races except on the basis of the individual blood types or groups.” This famous quote is from Charles Drew, an African American surgeon, teacher, and doctor. Charles was a surgeon and was a big part of transfusion in WW1.

On June 26, 2015 the Supreme Court ruled that marriage is a fundamental right. This historic ruling opened up a world of opportunities to America’s gay and lesbian communities, but there are still many organizations that resist this change in culture. There are some people in America who are morally against the practice of homosexual relations and they do not wish to support a life style that goes against their religious beliefs. These people invoke the First Amendment and desire to be exempt from serving the gay community. However, religious exemption cannot be extended to allow people to deny their fellow citizens their right to practice their own religions and their fundamental rights to life, liberty and property. We must be color blind

This topic is very controversial because anytime homosexuals and their unequal rights are mentioned people go crazy. Everyone should have equal rights, but there is a very good reason men who have had sex with other men are not able to give blood. Many statistics show that HIV and many other infectious diseases are more common among the gay men population so I don’t think they should be able to give blood. I would be very angry if I received a blood transfusion and it resulted in me acquiring a serious

society as a whole believes when one is dealing with an issue like AIDS, which

You are working at a physician’s office, and you have just taken C.Q., 38-year-old women into the consultation room. C.Q. has been divorced for 5 years, has two daughters (ages 14 and 16), and works full time as a legal secretary. She is here for a routine physical examination and requested that a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) test performed. C.Q. stated that she is in a serious relationship, is contemplating marriage, and just wants to make certain she is “okay”. No abnormalities were noted on chemistries and hematology studies. The physician requests you perform a rapid HIV test, which is an antibody test. Within 20 minutes, the results are available and are positive.

For those who are unsure about donating blood, it is helpful to consider the facts

In support of allowing gay men to donate blood is that the policy should be discontinued. One reason for discontinuing the policy is

In 1993, The New York Times wrote an article about a dentist in Florida who infected six of his patients. It had become an unsolved mystery as no one is sure how it happened. It is thought he might have accidently cut himself or poked his finger with a needle and infected the patients that way. The articles went on to discuss whether AIDS testing should be mandated for all healthcare professionals. Some people viewed the dentist as being no better than a murder.

First, I want to applaud you on the fact that you came to your senses and changed a lifetime deferral to a mere 12 months of celibacy. See before, if one was a male who has sex with men you would not be able to donate blood at any point in your life (LGBTQ Donors). Now after several years of research and data on HIV obtained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the FDA has decided to change the donation policy for men who have sex with men from, “a lifetime deferral to 12-month deferral is consistent with other selection criteria that are used to safeguard the blood supply from equivalent risks,” (LGBTQ Donors). For those who don’t understand what this deferral means, basically it says that as a man who has sex with men (MSM) you cannot donate blood until 12 months after your most recent sexual contact. Celibacy for an entire year, just to be able to donate blood. Some people may ask, “But wait, what if I’m in a MSM monogamous relationship, and we both know that we’re negative for HIV?” If you thought the answer was different, you thought wrong. Even in a monogamous relationship you’d still be deferred for 12 months (LGBTQ Donors). For any situation, one might think of dealing with MSM and blood donation, the Red Cross’ answer is usually no. Actually, the Red Cross provides a pretty clear and concise questions and answers page that has every imaginable

The topic of blood donation well-researched, with strategies having been devised to try and increase donation rates all over the world. Australia faces a challenging set of circumstances, in which remuneration for donation is illegal (ARCBS, 2013). It is thought this may be a contributing factor to the poor repeat donation rates in youth demographics, for whom altruism is no longer a primary driving factor when considering donation (Russell-Bennett, Hartel, Previte & Russel, 2012).

There were a few things that I learned about that I did not know before. What I learned about HIV/AIDS that I did not know before is that an uninfected person can have between 800 and 1000 immune fighting cells, which are known as T Cells. If HIV does enough damage to a person’s immune system, then their T Cells can drop to a dangerously low level. When a person’s T Cells drop below 200 their diagnosis changes from HIV positive to AIDS. Without the right amount of T Cells

Prevention of HIV infected blood can be greatly be reduced by screening all blood supplies for the virus and by heat-treating blood products where possible.