FYI - Belize & Donating Blood

I just got back from the Red Cross center where we tried to donate blood, and was put on deferral for 1 year because we went outside Belize City (ie cave tubing).

This just came up with our friends who are going to Belize with us. She had heard that you could not donate blood after being in Belize and was going to call the Red Cross. She and her husband always donate. Is it only if you go outside the city? We will probably go to the ruins or to Caye Caulker. by the way....we are neighbors in Granada Hills. Our friends are also from this area.

Hi neighbor!

Apparently if you stay in Belize City you are fine. If you are going to Roatan also you'd better check that out as well (didn't get that far in the discussion!)

I was reading on one of the boards about not being able to donate blood if you went outside Belize City, so I went to the CDC site and there is a Malaria warning for Belize, but it said you can get antimalarial injections. I called Kaiser and the woman in the injection clinic was amazed that we had done all the traveling we have without any protection. The problem is that we are leaving tomorrow and I just called earlier this week. You're supposed to get all the pills and shots at least 2 weeks before you go. There were no appointments available until today and they won't schedule an appointment within 24 hours of your departure. They called back with a cancellation for the next day and I said to give it to DH because he can give blood and I can't. The next day, Red Cross called to ask him to come in and donate blood. When he got there, they wouldn't take his blood because of the injections and pills. They also told him he can't give blood for a year after going to Belize whether or not he leaves the city.

At least he's protected against Malaria and a few other things, even if I'm not. We bought 40% DEET spray for our bodies and clothes, so hopefully the mosquitoes will leave us alone.

I forgot to mention that there was no CDC warning for Roatan, but Kaiser seemed to be more concerned about Honduras than Belize. Who knows???

We went to the ruins in Costa Maya in Jan '03, and when the time came to give blood, I was deferred. I was told that ANY jungle area, no matter what travel you take to get thru ( a bus in our case) is cause for deferral. Also, if I had left the shopping area in Cozumel, I would have been deferred for that too. Just something to remember that you may not think about.

Judy