If someone with high cholesterol level donates blood, does it have any negative effect on the recipient's health? I assume since the quantity what the person gets is rather small, it gets diluted and only rises the cholesterol level slightly....
Cholesterol level in donated blood
- Thread starter Syzygys
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WillNever
Valued Senior Member
We don't transfuse whole blood. Nowadays, blood is separated via centrifuge into blood products (red blood cells, platelets, clotting factors, albumin, plasma) and then combined with plasma and administered through an intravenous line.
After this process, I can't imagine there is much cholesterol either free or bound to proteins within the centrifuged plasma. It has been separated out.
After this process, I can't imagine there is much cholesterol either free or bound to proteins within the centrifuged plasma. It has been separated out.
Visibly drunk can not donate. If just tipsy, I guess the same logic applies, it is going to be so diluted with the old blood that unnoticable...
I am not so sure about it. Today I went to donate, and there were 4 types of donations:
-double red cell
-whole blood
-plasma
-platelet
Although I am not sure what they do with it afterward, but whole blood sounds like normal blood donation.
Here come the best part! I wasn't able to donate, because I lived in England in the 90s, and madcow disease and other bullshit. There is no test for madcow, only in autopsy. Still, I donated blood years ago and they weren't worried about madcow back then. I am curious if they accidentally transmitted it with donated blood.... Also, one could have picked it up in a 2 weeks stay, I say if I didn't get madcow in the last 15+ years, chances are I don't have it...
Anyhow, their loss...
Also it looks like since there are shitload of stuff what they can not test for and they rely on the donor's honesty, that it is a casino bet when it goes to blood transfusion. There was a story in the news about a kidney transplant, the donor had unprotected sex just a few days before the operation and sure enough, the kidney passed HIV to the recipient.
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Well, this is from 2003 about the possibility of madcow passing:
"Britain's Department of Health and the National Blood Service have since contacted 15 other patients who also received blood from donors who later died from vCJD. The patients have been offered counselling.
There is no blood test for vCJD, so blood banks cannot check their stocks for signs of the disease. But precautions are in place to minimize the risk of transmission. US and Canadian blood banks refuse donations from British citizens or those who have spent a significant amount of time in the country. In Britain itself, transfusions are stripped of white blood cells, which are thought to aid disease transmission.
The donor in this case gave blood in 1996, before the precautions were put in place. He fell ill and died in 1999; the recipient of his blood died in autumn this year.
"There won't be any changes to these procedures or precautions," says National Blood Service spokesperson Jude Pamington. But an advisory committee is discussing whether recipients of transfusions should be allowed to donate blood. If they are excluded, the number of blood donors could drop by up to 15%.
Five of the 15 patients who received contaminated blood were given the transfusions after the white blood cells had been removed. The other ten received them before the precaution was implemented.
Scientists think that the incubation period of vCJD may be as long as 30 years, so it is impossible to determine whether other past blood donors will yet contract vCJD."
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Again, one as a tourist could have eaten infected meat and since the incubation period is 30 years....
"Britain's Department of Health and the National Blood Service have since contacted 15 other patients who also received blood from donors who later died from vCJD. The patients have been offered counselling.
There is no blood test for vCJD, so blood banks cannot check their stocks for signs of the disease. But precautions are in place to minimize the risk of transmission. US and Canadian blood banks refuse donations from British citizens or those who have spent a significant amount of time in the country. In Britain itself, transfusions are stripped of white blood cells, which are thought to aid disease transmission.
The donor in this case gave blood in 1996, before the precautions were put in place. He fell ill and died in 1999; the recipient of his blood died in autumn this year.
"There won't be any changes to these procedures or precautions," says National Blood Service spokesperson Jude Pamington. But an advisory committee is discussing whether recipients of transfusions should be allowed to donate blood. If they are excluded, the number of blood donors could drop by up to 15%.
Five of the 15 patients who received contaminated blood were given the transfusions after the white blood cells had been removed. The other ten received them before the precaution was implemented.
Scientists think that the incubation period of vCJD may be as long as 30 years, so it is impossible to determine whether other past blood donors will yet contract vCJD."
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Again, one as a tourist could have eaten infected meat and since the incubation period is 30 years....
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
The filtering process can't remove everything. Some medications have an effect even when their concentration is measured in parts per billion. We've discovered that in our water supply. The filters in the water treatment plants aren't fine enough to keep it out. That's why we're getting hermaphrodite fishes from all the hormone supplements people take. Imagine what it's doing to us!
Of course, how else are they going to get it out of you? The other three kinds of donation are arduous efforts in which they take out the whole blood, separate it, and then put it back in. The last place I worked, the Bloodmobile came four times a year, and management was always happy to let us donate on company time. But they wouldn't let us do the double-red because we'd be off duty for more than an hour.
But once they get the blood, there's all kinds of things they can do with it. They can extract the red cells or do whatever they have to do to satisfy the needs of the surgery patients. Just because they take whole blood from you doesn't mean that that's the way they're going to transfuse it into a recipient.
I agree. But "the chances are" merely means that the probability is extremely low. That's low enough for you to make a rational decision about your life. You're so much more likely to die from heart disease or a road accident less than one mile from your home, that most other risks just aren't worth worrying about. I haven't looked it up in the risk tables, but I'm sure the chances of getting a fatal disease from a transfusion are about the same as being killed by lightning or killer bees.
But the Red Cross has to work to a higher standard, because they're not just working with one life. It they take that risk with the thousands of people who need transfusions every year, "the chances are" much greater that they'll pass on one of those diseases to one of them.
This is just rational risk analysis and rational risk management, something most Americans are abysmally poor at.
This is why people do a specific-donation when a family member is going into surgery. In some cases, when you know you're going to have surgery in the future, you can bank your own blood.
What I disagree is the 6 months being the cut off time. If they say, the donor stayed in England 2 weeks or less before '96, that is still OK to donate, that would be more logical. But right now they reject a 6+ months, but somebody who stayed for 5 months still can donate.
Mathematically speaking, the chances of contacting madcow between 5 and 6 months is pretty slim. But someone who stayed there for 4-5 months, now that is a much better chance.
I know, they have to draw the line somewhere, but with my approach they would actually err on the safe side...
Mathematically speaking, the chances of contacting madcow between 5 and 6 months is pretty slim. But someone who stayed there for 4-5 months, now that is a much better chance.
I know, they have to draw the line somewhere, but with my approach they would actually err on the safe side...
WillNever
Valued Senior Member
You are donating whole blood during every donation. They can't take only platelets or only plasma from you. The type of donation only designates what the blood will be used for after it is processed.
I was also told I couldnt donate due to a past melanoma cancer removed from my leg,even though since I have been tested free of cancer.I guess it's a good thing really.
Many people who are unemployed or just plain poor donate the maximum times per week they can.Last I knew it was 15.00 for each donation.
Many people who are unemployed or just plain poor donate the maximum times per week they can.Last I knew it was 15.00 for each donation.
I thought what Chimpkin said, that in certain types, they filter out whatever they want and they put the rest back. At least I think that's what they did 10 years ago, I think it was plasma...
I don't know about cholesterol, but I have seen plenty of fatty whole blood that had settled with the RBCs on the bottom and the clear plasma in the middle and the fats as the "frosting" on the top, and it's disgusting to see how much fat floats around in some people's blood. Such blood (informally called "fatties" in the lab) was specially processed, perhaps by centrifugation, extracting the fat from the top and discarding, and then treating the remainder as whole blood.
Cholesterol is slightly denser than plasma (1.052 versus 1.025), so it might end up with the platelets if they extract platelets using centrifugation. This method spins down the blood, which puts the RBCs on the bottom, a thin layer of platelets in the middle, and the plasma on the top. The plasma is pressed out of the top of the container into one receptacle. The remainder is spun again, and the platelets are pressed out into another receptacle, leaving the RBCs in the original container.
Even with modern equipment, they still use centrifugation, so the cholesterol might still end up with the platelets. These harvesting machines can extract whatever they want (plasma, platelets, RBCs) and return the rest to the donor.
Cholesterol is slightly denser than plasma (1.052 versus 1.025), so it might end up with the platelets if they extract platelets using centrifugation. This method spins down the blood, which puts the RBCs on the bottom, a thin layer of platelets in the middle, and the plasma on the top. The plasma is pressed out of the top of the container into one receptacle. The remainder is spun again, and the platelets are pressed out into another receptacle, leaving the RBCs in the original container.
Even with modern equipment, they still use centrifugation, so the cholesterol might still end up with the platelets. These harvesting machines can extract whatever they want (plasma, platelets, RBCs) and return the rest to the donor.
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
A Google search on "hermaphrodite fish" turned up a zillion hits. Here's a typical article, from right here in the Washington region, about my own water supply.
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Fraggle
I am aware, as many others are, of chemicals that can act as 'gender benders'.
I am not aware of any that can work at parts per billion to do this. Your article did not mention that dose. I am sceptical that such low doses can have such large effects, which is why I asked for a reference. Your reference did not say this, and I do not think I would believe it, if it did. For me to believe such an extraordinary claim, the reference would need to be from a very reputable scientific source.
I am aware, as many others are, of chemicals that can act as 'gender benders'.
I am not aware of any that can work at parts per billion to do this. Your article did not mention that dose. I am sceptical that such low doses can have such large effects, which is why I asked for a reference. Your reference did not say this, and I do not think I would believe it, if it did. For me to believe such an extraordinary claim, the reference would need to be from a very reputable scientific source.
Will there are three different types of donation, whole blood, plasma and platelets.
http://www.donateblood.com.au/all-about-blood/different-donation-types/three-types-blood-donation
http://www.donateblood.com.au/all-about-blood/different-donation-types/three-types-blood-donation