Changes in France’s Deferral of Blood Donation by Men Who Have Sex with Men

Since July 2016 in France, blood donations from men who have had sex with men (MSM) in the previous year have been banned. To evaluate a shorter waiting period, data are being collected on retesting MSM who have had sex with only one partner in the previous 4 months. To the Editor: Since the advent of AIDS, men who have sex with men (MSM) have often been permanently deferred from blood donation in France and elsewhere. 1 Such a ban, which is more stringent than deferrals for other risk exposures, can be considered to be discriminatory and often is misunderstood. 2 In France, the theoretical risk of transfusion-transmitted human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is 1 in 3.0 million donations 3 (i.e., one infection per year). However, the last known case of transfusion-transmitted HIV infection in France occurred in 2002. According to the French national surveillance system for blood donors, between 2011 and . . .