Therefore, it is important to donate blood again no earlier than after 60 days to replenish iron reserves and restore the body’s strength.
3. Is it possible to become a blood donor after death?
Blood is the tissue of the internal environment of our body, which flows through the vessels and consists of liquid intercellular substance (plasma) and formed elements – cells (erythrocytes, leukocytes and platelets). And theoretically, like any organ and tissue, it can be transplanted to another person after death. Likewise, you can become a blood donor after death.
This practice was actively carried out in the USSR in the 1920s–1960s, when religious and ethical aspects were relegated to the background. It was believed that cadaveric blood was stored longer and, of course, there was no talk of any physiological subsidies: several times more blood could be obtained from a dead donor
than from a living one, which, naturally, was a great advantage.
In the period from 1932 to 1944. at the Research Institute of Emergency Medicine named after. N.V. Sklifosovsky conducted 5,000 cadaveric blood transfusions, even a special technique was developed for collecting cadaver blood (the so-called blood a few hours after the death of a person, when the blood is no longer able to coagulate, becoming fibrinolyzed).
At that time, this method was considered very promising, but now it is not used for many reasons.
Firstly, there is a high risk of infectious complications and thrombotic reactions , since a large amount of fibrinolysis products is present in the blood.
Secondly, according to the legislation of the Russian Federation in Federal Law No. 323 “On the fundamentals of protecting the health of citizens in the Russian Federation”, the removal of organs and tissues from the body of a deceased can only be carried out if certain conditions are met:
- if a council of doctors has declared a person’s brain death;
- if the deceased citizen was an adult and legally capable;
- if he expressed consent to the removal of organs from his body after death;
- if one of the parents agreed to the removal of organs from the body of a minor or incompetent citizen after his death.
Thirdly, in the modern world, religious and ethical aspects have great weight, which is also an obstacle to such practice.
4. It is possible to mix blood from people of different races during transfusion. But there are nuances
In 1901, the Austrian physician Karl Landsteiner discovered 4 blood groups (for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize). The scientist noticed that sometimes the serum of one person sticks together the red blood cells of another, and came to the conclusion that people’s blood is divided into different groups, and, accordingly, safe transfusions are possible only between a donor and a recipient with compatible types.
Subsequently, blood transfusions began to be carried out according to the ABO system and the Rh factor in order to avoid agglutination (sticking together of red blood cells) and associated complications.
As a rule, no differences in the composition of blood components are detected in people of different races, and in principle, the donor and recipient may have different skin colors, but there are interesting differences in the characteristics of the antigenic composition of red blood cells.
Scientists have discovered other blood group proteins; currently there are more than 30 of them, but they are less common than the ABO and Rh factor blood group proteins.
For example, these include the Kell factor; it occurs in 10% of the Russian population, so now it is also determined before transfusion.
An interesting feature of the Duffy system proteins is that they are found in almost the entire population of Africa, since this mutation makes them immune to the development of tertian malaria.
Other systems, such as the Bombay system (found among residents of the Indian state of Maharatsha), Diego blood group (found among Native Americans and representatives of the Mongoloid race), Lewis system, Kidd factor and other several dozen blood groups are rare and are not primarily determined .
Therefore, differences in antigenic composition affect the possibility of selecting a donor; In this regard, in the modern world the phenotype (set of red blood cell antigens) of the donor and recipient is determined, and if they match, blood can be transfused.
5. You cannot become a donor if you have infectious and chronic diseases. But after piercing, tattoo or tooth extraction – you can, but not right away
Almost any healthy person can become a donor if he is over 18 years of age (the restriction is related to the legislation of the Russian Federation on human capacity), has no contraindications to donation and weighs more than 50 kg.
There are permanent and temporary restrictions on blood donation. Their full list can be found on the Blood Service website .
Constant contraindications include the presence of infectious (HIV, syphilis, viral hepatitis, tuberculosis, etc.) and parasitic diseases, cancer, blood diseases, as well as a number of other conditions. These reasons underlie the safety of donated blood components for patients so that the disease is not transmitted to them along with the blood.
Secondly, restrictions associated with other concomitant or chronic diseases in the donor are important for his own safety. For example, blood cannot be donated if you have diseases of the heart, respiratory system, kidneys or gastrointestinal tract. Or, from unobvious contraindications, for example, with some visual impairments: with high myopia, after blood donation, blood circulation in the retina may decrease, which will aggravate the situation.
Temporary bans have different periods: for example, if you weigh less than 50 kg, you can become a donor only after gaining weight. A period of 120 calendar days is required from the moment of completion of procedures, such as medical and cosmetic procedures involving violation of the skin (tattoos, piercings, acupuncture, etc.), or after surgical intervention, including artificial termination of pregnancy or tooth extraction.
The ban on donating blood also applies to pregnant women: it remains in place for 365 days after childbirth and 90 days after the end of breastfeeding.
For non-pregnant women, there are recommendations to refrain from donating during menstruation (due to existing blood loss).
If the donor has an acute or chronic inflammatory disease in the acute stage, regardless of location, then the medical withdrawal from donation is 30 calendar days after the acute period has stopped. The same applies to common ARVI and influenza.
The exception is exacerbation of stomach and (or) duodenal ulcers, as well as kidney diseases not listed in the list of permanent contraindications: in these conditions, blood donation is possible 1 year from the moment the acute period is relieved.
If a person has recently been vaccinated, the medical exemption from blood donation is valid from 10 days to 1 year, depending on the vaccination.
In addition, you cannot donate blood while taking certain medications – they are also listed on the website.