24.09.2021 – 09:00
Federal Medical Association
Berlin (ots)
Berlin, 24.09.2021 – In agreement with the Paul Ehrlich Institute, the German Medical Association has updated the haemotherapy guideline last amended in 2017 as part of the regular updates and published it on its website. The admission criteria for blood donation by people with sexual risk behavior were redrafted on the basis of a joint analysis presented in May 2021 by the German Medical Association, the Federal Ministry of Health and the competent higher federal authorities.
After reviewing current medical-scientific and epidemiological data, the institutions came to the joint conclusion, among other things, that the safety of blood and blood products continues to require the determination of donor suitability and testing of the donations. In the haemotherapy guideline, updated on the basis of this analysis, it is now stipulated that approval to donate four months after the end of sexual risk behavior does not lead to an increase in the risk for the recipients of blood and blood products. Infections with the hepatitis B virus, the hepatitis C virus or HIV could be safely ruled out after this period of time. Previously, there was a reserve period of twelve months after the end of the risk behavior.
Sexual risk behavior includes, for example, sexual intercourse with a trans person or between a woman and a man with frequently changing partners, as well as sexual intercourse between men with a new sexual partner or more than one sexual partner. Epidemiological data (especially from Germany) show that these behaviors are associated with a high risk of acquiring transfusion-relevant pathogens.
“Under no circumstances should the medical-scientific risk stratification be taken out of its regulatory context and used as a yardstick for social acceptance or discrimination,” emphasizes the President of the Medical Association, Dr. Klaus Reinhardt. The scientists expressly do not assess sexual orientation. Rather, when revising the guideline, special attention was paid to the formulation of the restitution criteria for blood donation. For example, the wording “sexual intercourse between heterosexuals” was changed to “sexual intercourse between women and men” as a result of the professional hearing carried out in accordance with the Transfusion Act. “It was and is a particular concern of ours to avoid any appearance of discrimination,” said Reinhardt.
Background: The statutory mandate to establish the generally recognized state of the art in medical science and technology by the German Medical Association is formulated in the Transfusion Act (TFG). As a consequence of the “HIV scandal” of the 1980s, an essential guiding principle of the TFG was and is a balance between the official tasks of drug approval by the Paul Ehrlich Institute, disease monitoring and prevention by the Robert Koch Institute, the monitoring tasks of Federal states and the medical profession in accordance with the recognized state of the art in medical science and technology.
The Hemotherapy Guideline is a highly differentiated, 100-page set of rules. It is developed, advised, agreed to and regularly checked – at least every two years – to ensure that it is up-to-date by experts, the majority of whom are volunteers. This procedure is a guarantee for the internationally recognized high technical quality of the guideline.
Press contact:
Federal Medical Association
Politics and Communication
Herbert-Lewin-Platz 1
10623 Berlin
Tel.: 030-400456700
Fax: 030-400456707
[email protected]
www.baek.de
Original content from: German Medical Association, transmitted by news aktuell
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