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EMEA Call for Total European Blood Ban

European ME Alliance Blood Ban

European ME Alliance, Sønder Alle 5, st 3, 9500 Hobro, Denmark

Email:  info@euro-me.org

Contamination Risk to Health of Millions of European Citizens

The European ME Alliance (EMEA) is calling on Europe’s health ministers to initiate an immediate Europe-wide prohibition of blood donation from people who have been diagnosed with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS).

This follows the decision by the UK government to issue a permanent, lifetime ban for all ME patients (including those who have “recovered”) from giving blood. The Alliance has also written directly to the European Health Commissioner urging him to enforce such a ban.

The UK ban follows similar action from Canada, Australia and New Zealand, while in the USA, the American Association of Blood Banks has advised its membership to actively discourage potential donors who have been diagnosed with ME/CFS from donating blood or blood components. In Europe, the National Blood Transfusion Services of Malta have been deferring donors permanently if they have a history of ME/CFS and the Belgian Red Cross has for some time refused to accept ME/CFS patients as blood donors.
EMEA believe such a prohibition is not only wise but is a necessary and urgent action which needs to be taken until more research can be performed. Otherwise there is a great risk to the safety of blood supplies and to the health of citizens within Europe.

The reason for banning blood donations from patients diagnosed with ME/CFS is, in EMEA’s view, clearly a consequence of biomedical research which has shown that there is a possible infectious virus which may be transmissible via blood.

Since research published in Science magazine in October 2009 by the Whittemore-Peterson Institute, the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic showed the possibility of a link between ME/CFS and a gammaretrovirus - xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV), further research groups are now actively engaged in replication and validation studies.

EMEA have also suggested that European health ministers convene in London in May 2011, after the 6th Invest in ME International ME/CFS Biomedical Research Conference, in order to meet with the leading experts on ME/CFS and to hear of the latest biomedical research into ME/CFS and experiences in diagnosing and treating ME/CFS.

ME/CFS is categorised by the World Health Organisation as a neurological disease and affects millions of Europeans.  

The European ME Alliance (EMEA) is a grouping of European organisations that are involved in supporting patients suffering from ME/CFS and campaigns for biomedical research to provide treatments and cures for ME. The Alliance currently consists of members from Belgium, UK, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark and hopes shortly to increase their representation across Europe.
The European ME Alliance believes that the seriousness of this situation and the risk to the public warrants an immediate prohibition of blood donation from ME/CFS patients in order to ensure that wider transmission and infection may be avoided.

The European ME Alliance
www.euro-me.org

The respective positions from each health department will be documented on the EMEA website at http://www.euro-me.org/news-Q42010-003.htm

In respect of Ireland, the Irish ME Trust has already written to our Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan with regard to the CMO’s view on the blood ban issue. No reply to this letter was forthcoming. A copy of the current letter dispatched from EMEA is documented below.

European ME Alliance, Sønder Alle 5, st 3, 9500 Hobro, Denmark
Email: info@euro-me.org web: www.euro-me.org

Dr. Tony Holohan
Chief Medical Officer
Department of Health and Children
Hawkins House
Hawkins Street
Dublin 2

29 November 2010

Dear Dr. Holohan,

The European ME Alliance (EMEA) is a grouping of European organisations that are involved in supporting patients suffering from myalgic encephalomyelitis (in some countries ME is embraced in the term ME/CFS) and campaigning for biomedical research to provide treatments and cures for ME. The alliance consists of members from Belgium, UK, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Denmark.

As you will be aware, research published in Science magazine in October 2009 by the Whittemore-Peterson Institute, the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic has shown the possibility of a link between ME/CFS and a gammaretrovirus - xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV). Further research groups are now actively engaged in replication and validation studies.
In the meantime and due to the possible risk of contamination of blood supplies, several countries have revised guidelines for ME (ME/CFS) patients. On April 7, 2010, Canada changed its policy for blood donors with a history or current diagnosis of ME/CFS, deferring them from donating for two years. Australia’s Red Cross announced on April 28 that it will indefinitely defer donors with a history or current diagnosis of ME/CFS. New Zealand has followed Canada's guidelines.

In the United States, the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) issued a June 18, 2010 bulletin advising its membership to “actively discourage potential donors who have been diagnosed by a physician with CFS [In US also embracing patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)] from donating blood or blood components.

On November 1st, 2010, the United Kingdom permanently deferred donors with a past or current history of ME/CFS. The U.K. National Health Service indicates that this change brings donor selection guidelines for ME/CFS into line with other relapsing conditions or neurological conditions of unknown or uncertain origin, such as MS and Parkinson’s Disease.

In Belgium, the Red Cross has for some time refused to accept ME/CFS patients as blood donors. They contend that ME/CFS is a disease in full evolution with a suspicion of an auto-immune component.

In Malta, the National Blood Transfusion Services have been deferring donors permanently if they have a history of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). They state that the reason is not only due to the theoretical risk of viral transmission but also due to donor safety.

EMEA believe such a prohibition is not only wise but is a necessary and urgent action to take until more research can be performed. Otherwise there is a great risk to the safety of blood supplies and to the health of citizens within Europe.

EMEA therefore request that you support our call to all European countries to initiate an immediate prohibition of blood donations from people who have been diagnosed with ME and ME/CFS in Europe, and we look forward to your statement on this issue.

EMEA would also like to invite you to attend a meeting arranged by the EMEA around the 6th Invest in ME International ME/CFS Conference 2010 in Westminster, London, in May 2011 in order to meet with other health ministers and the leading experts on ME/CFS and to hear of the latest biomedical research into ME/CFS and experiences in diagnosing and treating ME/CFS.

This will also be a unique opportunity for Europe's medical officers to discuss the latest research into this neurological illness that affects millions of Europeans.

Once again, we look forward to your statement on the issue of blood donations by people with ME/CFS in Europe and welcome you to London in May,

Yours Sincerely,
The Chairman, Board and Members of the European ME Alliance
European ME Alliance
www.europeanmealliance.org

 


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