Condition | Permanent or Temporary Disqualification | Comments |
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Permanent | This includes any person who has ever had a positive test for HIV infection. This includes any person who has ever taken any medication to treat HIV infection. | |
Activities that increase risk of HIV infection | Temporary | Wait for 2 years from last use of any medication given by injection to prevent HIV infection (such as long-acting antiviral PrEP or PEP). Wait for 3 months from the last use of any medication by mouth (oral) to prevent HIV infection (antiviral PrEP or PEP). Wait 3 months from the last time high-risk activity has taken place. Activities include
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Temporary | People can donate blood after the anemia resolves. | |
Permanent | — | |
Bleeding disorders, congenital | Permanent | — |
Cancers involving blood cells (for example, leukemia Overview of Leukemia Leukemias are cancers of white blood cells or of cells that develop into white blood cells. White blood cells develop from stem cells in the bone marrow. Sometimes the development goes awry... read more , lymphoma Overview of Lymphomas Lymphomas are cancers of lymphocytes, which reside in the lymphatic system and in blood-forming organs. Lymphomas are cancers of a specific type of white blood cells known as lymphocytes. These... read more , or myeloma Multiple Myeloma Multiple myeloma is a cancer of plasma cells in which abnormal plasma cells multiply uncontrollably in the bone marrow and occasionally in other parts of the body. People often have bone pain... read more ) | Permanent | People cannot donate even if they are cancer-free. |
Cancers, other | Temporary | People may donate if they are cancer-free and treatment was completed more than 12 months previously. People with mild, treatable forms (such as small skin cancers) that have been completely removed may be able to donate before 12 months. |
Medications (some), such as acitretin, dutasteride, etretinate, finasteride, and isotretinoin | Temporary | How long people have to wait depends on the medication. Most medications do not disqualify people from donating blood. |
Heart disease, severe | Permanent | Any heart disease must be medically evaluated and treated, and the person should have no heart-related symptoms within the last 6 months. |
Permanent | People who have ever had hepatitis due to a virus or tested positive for hepatitis B or C cannot donate blood. | |
Hepatitis, exposure to | Temporary | People must wait 12 months after possible exposure (for example, living with or having sex with a person with hepatitis, being incarcerated in a correctional facility for more than 72 hours, or having a human bite that broke the skin). |
Temporary | People can donate after their blood pressure is controlled. | |
Possible exposure to prion diseases, such as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Overview of Prion Diseases Prion diseases are rare progressive, fatal, and currently untreatable degenerative disorders of the brain (and rarely of other organs) that result when a protein changes into an abnormal form... read more disease (also called mad cow disease) | Permanent | Exposure may occur when
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Temporary | People must wait 1–3 years. | |
Pregnancy | Temporary | People must wait 6 weeks after giving birth. |
Major surgery if recent | Temporary | — |
Transfusions | Temporary or permanent | People who received a transfusion in the United States must wait 3 months. People who received a transfusion in the United Kingdom, Ireland, or France since 1980 cannot donate blood permanently. |
Vaccines (some) | Temporary | How long people have to wait depends on the vaccine. |
Temporary | For recent Zika virus infection, the U.S. FDA recommends people wait 120 days from the day symptoms resolve or from the last positive test result, whichever is longer. | |
Data from The U. S. FDA May 2023 Guidance document: Recommendations for Evaluating Donor Eligibility Using Individual Risk-Based Questions to Reduce the Risk of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Transmission by Blood and Blood Products. | ||
FDA = Food and Drug Administration; HIV = human immunodeficiency virus; PrEP = pre-exposure prophylaxis; PEP = post-exposure prophylaxis. |