Gay and bisexual men in monogamous relationships will be able to donate blood without abstaining from sex, under a rule change being drawn up by health officials. 

Sources say the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently bars men who have sex with men from having intercourse for at least three months before donating.

The policy originated in the 1980s during the AIDs epidemic when tests for HIV were not sensitive enough to ensure blood was not contaminated.

The ban was lifted in 2015, but men who have sex with men were required to abstain from sex for a year before donating. This was dropped to three months in 2020.

But the agency is now planning to fully reverse the rule, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Gay or bisexual men in monogamous relationships will be allowed to donate blood in the US within months, it was revealed today (file photo)

Gay or bisexual men in monogamous relationships will be allowed to donate blood in the US within months, it was revealed today (file photo)

Gay or bisexual men in monogamous relationships will be allowed to donate blood in the US within months, it was revealed today (file photo)

It will bring the US more in line with other countries like the UK, Spain and Mexico — which have also lifted restrictions on gay or bisexual men donating blood. 

Blood tests for HIV are now more than 99 per cent accurate. The FDA’s move is based on a study involving 1,600 gay and bisexual men backed by three nonprofits.

Politicians and campaigners welcomed the end of the ‘discriminatory’ and ‘outdated’ policy today.

How blood donation rules have been eased i the United States 

1980s: The Food and Drug Administration bans all blood donations from gay or bisexual men. This is due to concern over the HIV/AIDs crisis.

1985: CDC officials say America starts to screen all blood donations for HIV.

2015: Agency eases rules allowing gay or bisexual men to donate blood providing they abstain from sex for a year.

2020: Gay or bisexual men can donate blood after abstaining from sex for three months. This was in response to the Covid pandemic.

2022: To be announced, but the US is now set to allow blood donations from gay or bisexual men in monogamous couples. 

Those who had anal sex with a new sexual partner within the last three months will not be allowed to donate.

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According to plans being drawn up by the FDA, seen by the WSJ, men and women donating blood will now have to fill out a questionnaire that asks them about their recent sexual activity.

Sources said they would be asked if they had any new sexual partners in the past three months.

People who say they have not would be free to donate.

But those who say they have would be asked if they had anal intercourse over the past three months.

People who say they have not would also be allowed to donate.

But those who say they have will likely be asked to wait three months before donating blood.

DailyMail.com has contacted the FDA for a comment on the report. 

Unprotected anal sex poses a higher risk of transmitting HIV than other forms of sexual activity, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

But three months is considered an adequate wait time because it gives enough time for symptoms to appear, the FDA says.

All donated blood is screened for diseases including HIV, syphilis and hepatitis among others. This has been in place since 1985.

Canada brought in a similar questionnaire this September, also asking potential donors whether they had anal sex with new sexual partners.

In the UK, men who have had the same partner for three or more months were allowed to donate blood from last year.

Dr Brian Cluster, director of the Vitalant Research Institute who carried out research for the questionnaire, said: ‘We have a strong dataset.

‘We have highly relevant information to envision what an individual risk-based approach would look like.’

Many groups have slammed the FDA’s move, however, calling for all restrictions to be scrapped.

Brad Hoylman, who is a senator in New York, welcomed the move saying he would finally be allowed to donate blood.

He wrote online: ‘I’ll finally be able to donate blood after the FDA releases new blood donation guidelines for gay men.

‘The approval process took far too long, but glad this outdated and discriminatory policy is dead.’

The FDA restricted blood donations from gay or bisexual men in the 1980s during the AIDs epidemic.

The total ban was eased slightly in 2015, with the group told they had to abstain from sex for a year before being allowed to donate.

This was then dropped to a three-month sex abstention in 2020 amid the Covid crisis to avoid a blood shortage in hospitals.

But despite the move the American Red Cross declared a national ‘blood crisis’ in January 2022, the first ever in the United States.

About 1.2million Americans have HIV, with about 13 per cent being unaware they have the disease estimates suggest.

HIV cases in the US have been trending downwards in recent years. In 2020 — the latest year data is available — 71 per cent of new diagnoses were in men who have sex with men. 

It comes as STI rates — for chlamydia, syphilis and others — soar in America with just 40 per cent of men saying they use a condom

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk

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