I was listening to the American military radio here in Korea and they invited soldiers to donate blood with some exceptions:

  • if you’ve been shorter than 30 days in Korea
  • if you got a tatoo in the last 6 months
  • if you lived in Europe for more than 5 years

I really wonder what could have happened to someone who lived in Europe for more than 5 years which triggered this particular exception.

    • @Papanca@lemmy.worldEnglish
      20•7 months ago

      I am not allowed to give blood, because i once got a blood transfusion in the eighties and i have a tiny, tiny risk of infecting people with mad cow disease. I only found out when i decided to give blood some years back and found out i am not allowed to.

      • Dandroid
        3•7 months ago

        I can’t donate blood because my grandma died from prions. I probably have a much, much higher chance of spreading it than you, and mine is still probably extremely low.

    • JeenaOP
      1•7 months ago

      Ah yeah, that sounds about right, the 5 years incubation time and so on. Thanks!

      • @Nighed@sffa.communityEnglish
        7•7 months ago

        Mad cow disease can (sometimes/possibly) take decades to have an effect. If you are some infected meat and have the wrong genetics you could wind up with a sponge for a brain 30 years later.

        Prions are terrifying.

      • AmidFuror
        1•7 months ago

        The five years is just due to cumulative risk. Someone decided to make that the cutoff.

  • AdaAEnglish
    23•7 months ago

    Bovine spongiform encephalopathy

  • AnonStoleMyPants
    14•7 months ago

    Weird that it is entirety of Europe. In Finland it is only asked if you’ve been in or lived in the UK in the 90s iirc.