Except for scattered cancellations of high school blood drives because of high absenteeism, the H1N1 pandemic doesn't seem to have had much of an impact on the nation's blood supply.
No case of seasonal flu transmitted through a blood transfusion has ever been reported anywhere in the world, according to a draft guidance issued Friday by the Food and Drug Administration. And so far, the FDA says, the same goes for H1N1 flu.
Studies are ongoing, though, says Jay Epstein, head of the FDA's Office of Blood Research and Review. "There's always a theoretical concern with a new (infectious) agent."
The FDA issued the H1N1 guidance "to provide clarity on expectations for how to manage donors and products," Epstein said Monday. "The blood supply is a critical health infrastructure, and it needs to be maintained in the face of the pandemic."
People without flu symptoms who've been fever-free for at least 24 hours without taking fever-reducing medications can donate blood, according to the FDA.
"Absolutely the most important thing is people shouldn't come in to donate if they're sick," Epstein says. While there have been no reports of flu spread through blood donations, he says, sick donors could spread it at collection sites.
As has been the case since before H1N1, or swine flu, donors who become ill within a day or two of giving blood should notify the collection facility, says Jennifer Garfinkel, a spokeswoman for the AABB, formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks.
The FDA is leaving it up to collection facilities to decide whether blood from donors who become sick afterward should be discarded, Epstein says.
Although there have been pockets of blood shortages around the country, Garfinkel says, "we're able to move the blood where it needs to be." Blood traditionally is in short supply during the winter months, she said.
Since July, the American Red Cross has seen a 3% drop in blood donors scheduling appointments and giving blood, spokeswoman Stephanie Millian says.
Whether the scattered shortfalls have been because of H1N1 isn't clear, she says. However, as donations have fallen, so has demand, partly because people are putting off elective surgeries because of the economy, she says.
To see more of USAToday.com, or to subscribe, go to http://www.usatoday.com
Copyright 2009 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.