We don’t need gay blood
Everyone is mourning the people who died in Beslan and feels for the survivors. Many gay men would have liked to, and could have helped, those injured, but, as it turned out, gay blood is not required.
A few days ago a call for blood donations for the victims was published on a popular website. Gay men "by habit" were counted among high risk group donors, and were asked not to donate blood.
In an interview on the magazine "Kvir" (July-August 2004), academic Vadim Pokrovskii, from the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, stated: "The incidence of HIV among men having sex with men is unclear. According to official data, this is the least affected group. The figure for HIV positive heterosexuals is significantly higher. Last year 8,000 self-identified gay men were tested. The virus was detected in 23 of them".
Why did they refuse blood from healthy men? Yet at the moment there is no specific analysis to test someone’s homosexuality. While standard procedures prescribe that every donor’s blood should undergo ordinary testing (clinical, biochemical, for hepatitis B and C, HIV and syphilis).
A few days ago a call for blood donations for the victims was published on a popular website. Gay men "by habit" were counted among high risk group donors, and were asked not to donate blood.
In an interview on the magazine "Kvir" (July-August 2004), academic Vadim Pokrovskii, from the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, stated: "The incidence of HIV among men having sex with men is unclear. According to official data, this is the least affected group. The figure for HIV positive heterosexuals is significantly higher. Last year 8,000 self-identified gay men were tested. The virus was detected in 23 of them".
Why did they refuse blood from healthy men? Yet at the moment there is no specific analysis to test someone’s homosexuality. While standard procedures prescribe that every donor’s blood should undergo ordinary testing (clinical, biochemical, for hepatitis B and C, HIV and syphilis).
