blood donation
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Those Potentially Exposed to ‘Mad Cow Disease’ Will Now Be Able to Donate Blood in Australia Again
From today, eligible people who were in the United Kingdom in the 80s and 90s will be able to donate blood in Australia again. That’s because the risk of acquiring variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) from blood transfusions in Australia is incredibly tiny. We calculated that risk was about one in 1.4 billion, publishing our research…
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What Actually Happens to Your Blood After It’s Donated
Most of us are only aware of two key aspects of the blood donation process — the actual collection of donor blood and its transfusion into those who need it. But there’s actually a lot that goes on in between those two crucial moments. We all know that giving blood is very important, but when…
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How One Australian Man’s Blood Donations Saved Over Two Million Lives
Today I found out about a man who saved over two million lives just by donating his somewhat unique blood plasma. Australian James Harrison is called “the man with the golden arm” due to the unusual composition of his blood. Harrison’s blood contains an antibody called Rho(D) Immune Globulin that is used to treat Rhesus…