Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood. A single donation can save lives. However, only 3% of eligible Americans give blood each year.

For the person doing the giving, you can be assured that you are doing a great thing. But if you’re the person receiving, can you trust that the blood you’re getting is safe?

For 30 years, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has funded programs and research aimed at keeping the nation’s blood supply safe. One of these programs is NHLBI’s Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation Study, or REDS program. The REDS program conducts research to evaluate and improve the safety of the nation’s blood supply and the safety and effectiveness of transfusion therapies in children and adults. REDS is the largest research program of its kind in the U.S. It addresses potential emerging threats to the blood supply and serves as a resource for ongoing transfusion research.

According to Dr. Kamille West-Mitchell of the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center Blood Bank, donor screening requirements at blood donation sites are designed to ensure the safety of both donors and blood recipients.

On the day a person shows up to give blood, some of the requirements they must meet are to:

• Be in good health – meaning that they feel well and can perform normal activities.
• Have a healthy pulse and blood pressure.
• Register a normal temperature – not a fever.
• Meet their state’s minimum age requirement.
• Not have a low hemoglobin level.
• Not have HIV, hepatitis or risk factors for these infections and other blood transmissible infections.
• Not have donated blood in the last 56 days.

Once the person’s blood leaves the donation site, it is carefully tested and screened for major known transfusion-transmissible agents such as HIV and hepatitis B and C to ensure it is safe, then stored at the right temperature before it is shipped where needed.

“Blood is always in demand because it’s perishable. But the good news is most people can donate blood,” West-Mitchell said. Finding a place to donate is simple, as there are blood donation sites in nearly every community. For more information about blood donation and safety, visit the NHLBI’s Blood Diseases and Disorders Education Program at www.nhlbi.nih.gov/education/blood/donation.

Source: The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health