Blood Donation Criteria

Alcohol
Any evidence of intoxication or inability to give an informed consent will
prevent you from donating. You can donate once sober for 12 hours

Acupuncture
Acupuncture performed with disposable or single-use needles does not affect
your ability to donate. If you are not sure what kinds of needles were used,
you have to wait six months after treatment before you can donate

Age
To become a blood donor in Canada you must be:

At least 17 years old

Meet our height and weight requirements if you are between 17 and 23
years old

Allergies
If you have allergies, you can donate as long as you feel well

Antibiotics
If you have an acute infection should not donate blood. When taking medication
for an infection, you may be temporarily unable to donate

Asthma
You can donate as long as you are not having difficulty breathing at the time of
donation and otherwise feel well

Birth Control
Women on oral contraceptives or using other forms of birth control can donate

Blood Pressure
Well take your blood pressure at the time of donation. You cannot donate if
your systolic pressure is below 90 mm Hg or above 180 mm Hg, or if your
diastolic pressure is below 50 mm Hg or above 100 mm Hg. (Hg is a
measurement of pressure in terms of millimeters of mercury.)

Blood Transfusion
You must wait for 12 months after receiving a blood transfusion from another
person before you can donate blood.

Body Piercing
Donors must wait six months after having a body piercing due to the increased
risk of Hepatitis C and other infections associated with tattoos and piercing.
Other similar procedures that may fall under this category include acupuncture
and electrolysis

Cancer
Your eligibility to donate depends on the type of cancer you had and when it
was treated.
Skin cancer:

squamous cell or basal cell - You can donate after treatment

Melanoma - you are not eligible to donate

For most types of cancer, you can donate 5 years after your treatment is
complete and you are cancer-free. These include:

Breast cancer

Prostate cancer

Colon cancer

Thyroid cancer

Uterine cancer

Blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma - you are not eligible to
donate

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

If you have been diagnosed with CFS you are not eligible to donate
because the potential effects on blood recipients are unknown

Colds and Flu

You can donate if you are well, participating in normal daily activities, not on
antibiotics and not coughing up phlegm.

Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease, Variant (vCJD/Mad

Cow):
Anyone who:

Spent a cumulative total of three months or more in the United Kingdom

(UK) between January 1980 and December 31, 1996

Spent a cumulative total of three months or more in France between

January 1980 and December 31, 1996

Spent a cumulative total of five years or more in Western Europe outside

the U.K. or France from January 1, 1980 through December 31, 2007

Spent a cumulative total of six months or more in Saudi Arabia from

January 1, 1980 through December 31, 1996

is not eligible to donate.

Crohns disease
You are not eligible to donate.

Dental Work
If you have had a cleaning or a filling, you can donate the day after treatment.
If you have had an extraction, root canal or dental surgery you are eligible 72
hours after treatment, as long as you have fully recovered.

Diabetes
If you have diabetes that is being treated by diet, medication, or insulin, you
may be eligible to donate blood. Every donor is different, and the use of
certain medications or other underlying conditions could be cause for deferral.
Give us a call and well let you know if you can donate

Disease
For your safety and the safety of patients who receive blood, donations are not
taken from people with some medical conditions. Call us to discuss your
current health and we can determine your eligibility

Donation Interval
To be eligible to donate, your last:

Whole blood donation must have been 56 days ago

Plasma donation must have been seven days ago

Platelet donation must have been 14 days ago

Ebola

Anyone who has been told by public health authorities that they have
been exposed to a patient who may have Ebola virus disease is advised
not to donate blood for 56 days following their last contact with the
infected person. This is considerably longer than the incubation period
for the virus.

West African countries with confirmed cases of Ebola are also malariaendemic countries. Travelers who have visited malaria-endemic
countries are deferred from giving blood for one year.

False Reactive Test Results

The initial tests we use to screen blood are highly sensitive to guarantee
the safety of recipients. That means they are designed to detect
donations with even the smallest levels of infection. But because they
are so sensitive, sometimes they react with proteins in blood and
produce a "reactive" (i.e., positive) result. We then check the result using
a more specific test of different sensitivity: if that test does not produce
the same positive result, we consider the first result to have been "false
reactive" or "false positive."

In the past, a false reactive result has meant a donor was indefinitely
deferred from giving blood. Recently, however, Health Canada approved
a re-entry program that allows eligible donors to be re-tested after a sixmonth waiting period.

Fibromyalgia
You can donate!

Health
You must be in good general heath to donate blood. This means feeling well
and able to perform normal activities. The day of your donation, you should
have had something to eat and gotten an adequate sleep the night before.

Heart
If you have suffered a Heart Attack or have Coronary Heart Disease, you are
not eligible to donate.
With some heart conditions, if you are asymptomatic (i.e., are experiencing no
symptoms), you may be eligible to donate.

Hemochromatosis
Hereditary hemochromatosis is a common genetic disorder. Individuals with
hemochromatosis absorb too much iron from their diet and may accumulate
extra iron in vital organs.

If you are otherwise eligible to donate blood, you can donate whole blood
every 56 days.

In between your Canadian Blood Services donations, there should be at

least one week between an outpatient phlebotomy and your next
donation.

If you have late complications from hemochromatosis such as liver

cirrhosis or heart failure, you are not eligible to donate

If youre looking for more information about hemochromatosis, visit

the Canadian Hemochromatosis Society website.

Hemoglobin
We test your hemoglobin level in the clinic before each donation. Your
hemoglobin must be at least 125 g/L (12.5 g/dL) in order for you to be able to
give blood.

Hepatitis/Jaundice
If you ever tested positive for hepatitis B or hepatitis C, at any age, you are not
eligible to donate, even if you were never sick or jaundiced from the infection.
You are acceptable, once jaundice is resolved if the jaundice or hepatitis was
caused by something other than a viral infection, for example: medications,
Gilbert's disease, bile duct obstruction, alcohol, gallstones or trauma to the
liver.
You are acceptable with a history of jaundice or hepatitis before your 11th
birthday unless the cause was hepatitis B or C.

HIV/AIDS
You should not give blood if you have AIDS or have ever had a positive HIV
test, or if you have done something that puts you at risk for becoming infected
with HIV.
HIV Geographical Risks: people who have lived in certain regions of Africa
and may have been exposed to a new strain of HIV, the virus that causes
AIDS, are not eligible to donate blood. Anyone who has had sex with someone
who lives there, is also not permitted to donate blood. This is based on
possible exposure to newly emerging strains of HIV. Countries included are:
Cameroon and Togo.
HIV high-risk activities: a number of activities put people at high risk of
acquiring HIV/AIDS. These can indefinitely defer a person from giving blood
for example, someone who has taken money or drugs for sex since 1977
cannot give blood; neither can someone who has used intravenous street
drugs. Men who have had sex with another man more than five years ago,
and who meet other screening criteria, now may be eligible to give blood.

Iron

A diet rich in iron is advised for all donors. A decrease in iron stores (ferritin)
may occur in frequent donors.
If you donate regularly

Talk to your pharmacist or doctor about taking iron supplements to

prevent low iron stores.

Ask your doctor to check your iron (ferritin).

If you are taking

a multivitamin with iron you can donate

an iron tablet to prevent low iron you can donate

an iron tablet to treat low iron stores (low ferritin)

o

You can donate 3 months after you start taking the iron tablets if
your doctor tells you your iron levels are normal

an iron tablet to treat iron deficiency anemia (low hemoglobin and ferritin)
o

You can donate 6 months after you start taking the iron tablets if
your doctor tells you your iron levels are normal

Lupus
If diagnosed with Lupus, you are no longer eligible to donate.

Malaria
If you spend time in a region affected by malaria you will be temporarily
ineligible to donate blood. Depending on how long you were in the affected
region, the waiting period to donate again can be one to three years. Popular
tourist destinations like the Dominican Republic and Mexico have some areas
where malaria exposure is a risk

Medication
Most prescribed medications do not prevent you from donating. However, the
underlying condition that requires a particular medication may affect your
eligibility to donate. Some medications are cause for deferral. You may not
donate while taking the medication and possibly for a period of time
afterwards.
If you are currently taking medication and want to know if you can give blood,
click here for a list of the top 40 acceptable and unacceptable medications.
If you take any medications, we recommend bringing a list of current
medications to your donations. This will assist staff in accurately assessing
your eligibility during screening

Menstrual cycle/Menstrual cramps

Eligible to donate.

Multiple Sclerosis
You are ineligible to donate.

Organ/Tissue Transplants (grafts)

Wait 12 months after receiving any type of organ transplant from another
person. If you ever received a dura mater (brain covering) transplant, you are
not eligible to donate. This requirement is related to concerns about the brain
disease, Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease (CJD).
If you received a tissue graft from one area of your body to another, you are
eligible once fully recovered.

Pregnancy and Nursing

Donors are temporarily ineligible to donate blood while pregnant. There is also
a six-month waiting period after giving birth before the donor may be eligible to
donate blood.
Women who are breastfeeding are not eligible to donate blood during the first
six months after giving birth.
There is a six-week temporary ineligibility period for women who miscarry or
terminate a pregnancy.

Sexually Transmitted Disease

You are acceptable if it has been more than 12 months since you completed
treatment for syphilis or gonorrhea.
Once Chlamydia is resolved and genital herpes lesions are healed you are
eligible to donate.
Venereal warts (human papilloma virus) are not a cause for deferral if you are
feeling healthy and well and meet all other eligibility requirements.

Skin Condition, Rash, Acne

You are acceptable as long as the skin over the vein to be used to collect
blood is not affected. If the skin disease has become infected, wait until the
infection has cleared before donating.
Taking antibiotics to control acne does not disqualify you from donating.

Stitches/Laceration
Once stitches removed, you are not on antibiotics and free from infection, you
are eligible to donate

Surgery
Generally, the surgery itself is not a concern for donating, but the underlying
condition that precipitated the surgery.
If the underlying condition is acceptable to donate, you will need to be fully
recovered from the procedure and feeling well before donating.
If you received any blood products during or after surgery, wait 12 months
before donating.

Travel
If youre planning a trip outside of Canada or have just returned, make sure
youre informed about your destination and any issues that may affect your
ability to donate. Here is a listing of countries that are affected.

Tattoos
You must wait six months after getting a tattoo before giving blood due to the
increased risk of Hepatitis C and other infections associated with tattoos and
piercing.

Vaccinations
If you have recently been vaccinated, you may be temporarily deferred from
giving blood. You can download the full list of deferral periods for various
vaccinations here.

Weight
To donate blood, you must weigh at least 50 kg (110 lb). If you are between
the ages of 17 and 23, see weight chart on website for details