Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 12, 1993 TAG: 9301120269
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium
GULF VETERANS NOW CAN DONATE BLOOD
The Red Cross has lifted a 14-month ban on blood from Desert Storm veterans and will begin accepting their donations this week.The organization restricted military donations in November 1991 after a parasitic infection called Leishmaniasis was found in 28 veterans of the Persian Gulf War.
The disease, which is transmitted by a sand fly bite, is known to be fatal only in central Africa. The African variety causes a blood, liver and spleen disease, while the Middle Eastern variety causes a skin rash.
Red Cross officials became worried after some veterans who developed rashes also had fatigue, diarrhea and a fever - symptoms of the central African Leishmaniasis, said Dr. Joseph Sweeney, medical director for group's mid-Atlantic region.
After 14 months, the symptoms disappeared and the veterans did not develop the sometimes fatal disease, said Sweeney, a hematologist. "This was done as a precautionary measure," he said.
The ban has created a blood shortage in some areas. In the mid-Atlantic region, the Red Cross estimated that about 12,000 pints were not donated because of the ban. In the Hampton Roads area, more than 40,000 service members served in the gulf region.
"We collect 140,000 pints of blood a year in this region," said Paul Hodges, Red Cross donor-recruitment director in Norfolk.
Before the war, 23 percent of all blood collected by the Red Cross Mid-Atlantic Region was donated at military installations. Since the war, the military has made up only 14 percent of the region's blood supply.
Military personnel not assigned to the gulf region pitched in during the ban to keep the blood supply from plummeting in the area, Hodges said.
"The military was very cooperative when they realized what happened," he said.
The blood donor ban also included all civilians - including military reservists who have returned to civilian jobs, business people and tourists - who visited Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman or Yemen.