Friday, July 12, 2013

Email 434: Blood Donation and HIV

hello po,

i am currently living in Batangas ngayon. may katanungan lang po ako. ganito kasi yon. i had unprotected sex with a gay po last 2003, where i was "top". we did it several times. around 2005, i also had oral sex pero ako po yung binibj with another gay. just last 2011 po, lahat ng kabarkada ko were somehow active po sa social responsibility like blood donation with red cross, providing clothes o food sa mga nasusunugan, etc. with red cross, i donated blood 5 times na po. in fact, sila pa nagtetext sakin kung due na ako for another donation.. tanong ko lang po, does red cross subject my blood for hiv testing? if so, ibig po sabihin hiv non-reactive po ako? anyway, i informed them about my unprotected sex last 2003 & 2005. from then, d nko nakipagsex sa kapwa lalaki. pls help me, still confused. 

 thank you po

TRANSLATION

 Hello.

 I am currently living in Batangas now. I have a question. This is how it goes. 

 I had unprotected sex with a gay person last 2003 where I was the "top". We did it several times. Around 2005, I also had oral sex but I was the one who was given "head" by another gay guy. Just last 2011, all my peers were somehow into social responsibility like blood donation with Red Cross, providing clothes or food to those fire stricken homes, etc. With Red Cross, I donated 5 times already. In fact, they are the ones who would text me if I am due for another donation.

 I would like to ask  does Red Cross subject my blood for HIv testing? If so, does it mean that I am HIV non-reactive? Anyway, I informed them about my unprotected sex last 2003 and 2005. From then, I didn't have sex with the same sex anymore. Please help me as I am still confused.

 Thank you.

POZZIEPINOY’S RESPONSE

Hi there.

Thank you for your email and thank you for sharing your experience with us.

With regards to blood donation, here are some facts:

1. HIV testing is done as well as other contagious disease tests. The reason for this is to 
    make sure that the blood that has been donated is "clean" and free of diseases that maybe 
    passed to recipients of the blood.
2. However, because of the strict confidentiality clause in the HIV Law in the Philippines,   
    the blood banks don't usually disclose to the donor of the blood if it has HIV. Usually,
    the infected blood is just disposed of immediately.
3. There were instances that the donor of the blood will be informed that the blood has
    "issues" and that they can't use it. There were cases wherein the donor will be asked to
    talk to a doctor in the blood bank/organization. The donor will be informed vaguely that
    there is a problem with the blood and the donor will be asked for his or her permission to
    conduct any specific blood test. If the donor doesn't want to participate, then nothing can
    be done.
4. In your story, even though you mentioned to the Red Cross that you had unprotected
    sex in the past, it will put a red flag already to your blood. However, still the organization
    can't disclose whether or not your blood is infected with HIV.

My advice to you is not speculate whether or not you have HIV based on your blood donations. The best way to know is to subject yourself to the HIV test for you to finally know of your HIV status.

I hope I was able to answer your concerns. Feel free to email me again if you have other questions.


Stay healthy,
Pozziepinoy








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