West Indies: travelers must wait a month to donate blood

Mosquitoes slow down blood donation. According to our colleagues from World, travelers returning from Italy or the West Indies are subject to a temporary ban on donating blood. In question: viruses transmitted by mosquito bites.

The summer period and the start of the school year are traditionally times of stress for theFrench blood establishment (EFS). But this year, some holidaymakers will not be able to make a civic gesture, while demand is growing. Indeed, in a recent appeal for donations, the establishment pointed out the critical situation in the West Indies. Fewer and fewer overseas citizens can donate, due to the chikungunya epidemic. The metropolis is therefore obliged to send part of the precious liquid to the regions concerned, which tends to an already delicate situation.

Variable incubation times

In 2014, the proliferation of mosquitoes in Europe and the West Indies further complicates the equation. Potential donors returning from malarious regions are already asked to wait 4 months before making a donation. The risk of infection with Plasmodium falciparum, parasite responsible for the symptoms, persists between 8 and 30 days after transmission of the latter.

Travelers returning from the West Indies and Italy are also prohibited from donating blood for a month. Here again, this is a preventive measure, which applies to the French Antilles, but also to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas. In the first case, the symptoms of chikungunya appear after 2-10 days of incubation. West Nile virus, which usually strikes North Africa, has recently emerged in Italy after the proliferation of its main vector, theAedes aegypti. The incubation period ranges from 3 to 6 days, and symptoms take more than a week to subside. And in the event of viral infection, two weeks of delay after the disappearance of the symptoms are established by the EFS.