Add this to your pre-cruise checklist

[jrose1982]

I returned from my first cruise about 6 weeks ago. This morning I attempted to donate blood at my local blood bank and was deferred for a year because two ports of call (Cozumel and Costa Maya) are in "malarial areas".

 

This is very disappointing. My niece has a bad liver, and helping others by donating blood was something I intended to vent my frustration over all the ways that I can't help her. And now I learn I can't donate again until 1 year after I visited Cozumel.

 

And I'm planning another international vacation for next year - into "Mad Cow Disease" areas. So I'll have a time window to donate once (maybe twice, if I time it right) and then I'll probably have to wait another year.

 

If donating blood is something that's important to you, be sure to add it to your pre-cruise checklist.

 

Be aware that certain vaccinations can also disqualify you if get them within 8 weeks of donating. And you probably don't want to donate blood the day before you get on the plane either. You should give yourself a couple days before doing anything as stressful as cross-country travel.

[Conshydot]

In regard to "mad cow disease", unless you are planning to spend loads of time in one of those countries:

 

Have lived or visited in the United Kingdom for three months or more cumulatively between 1980 and 1996.

Have spent five years or more in Europe (including the United Kingdom) cumulatively from 1980 to the present.

 

From: Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

http://www.mskcc.org/giving/blood/restrictions-related-international-travel-immigration

 

From the Red Cross:http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requirements/eligibility-criteria-alphabetical-listing#arc5

[jrose1982]

Good point. See, I never pay attention to those questions unless my answer is yes. I just vaguely remember seeing a whole page about Mad Cow Disease in the information book. But I've never been to any of the countries listed, so I skimmed it and moved on.

 

But you understand what I mean right? I'm just discovering that my interest in blood donation has many potential conflicts with my desire to travel the world. I'm just gonna have to pay more attention when I'm making my future travel plans.

[Conshydot]

I understand completely. Since I have been on both sides of the needle ( I have collected the donations), I have learned to ask someone if a country that I have recently visited prohibits me from donating. I always ask the question: have you visited a country outside of the US in the last year? I cringe when someone says yes--Hawai'i!!!!

 

CJD (mad cow) is probably one of the scariest diseases.

[Purplsmurf]

Dominican Republic is also on that list of no donating for a year.....probably more as well!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[jrose1982]

There are lot's of places on the map that have malaria.

The Center for Disease Control create a map application to find out if a place you are visiting has malaria:

 

http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/map/

 

Here's a snapshot of the Caribbean (since that's such a popular cruise destination).

The red and yellow have malaria.

Edited March 19, 2014 by jrose1982

[Lerin]

If you really want to help, you can always donate money or find other organizations to give your time to in the meanwhile. :)

[paul929207]

We travel all over the world. When I try to give blood I have them go straight to the foreign travel question. It almost always disqualifies me.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have known about this for years and years. And since we have cruised everywhere, we have never been able to donate blood.

[sparks1093]

Good info to have, thanks! (I recently started donating blood because I found out that the Navy doctor was wrong when he told me that I would never be able to donate because of a medical treatment that I received.)