I do apologise

I apologise to any of the Brits who read my blog that went down into the village to give blood.

It seems that the Spanish government passed a directive in 2003 prohibiting anyone who lived in the UK between 1980 and 1993, whether they were a UK citizen or not, from giving blood here. The reason was linked to the 90s outbreak of ‘mad cow disease’ in cattle which was proven to be transmittable to humans in the form of the variant Creutzfeld-Jacob Disease (vCJD).

Evidence shows that the disease can be passed on through transfusions and there is no test to determine whether the donor is a carrier or not, hence the ban.

This is a shame because world wide and in Valencia,  blood supplies are low and are continuing to drop.

NB Note to my neighbour whose wife went down to try and donate blood, nobody is suggesting she is a mad cow:-)