Those who were ineligible to give blood this week and in the past attended a session on HIV and HIV-testing technology in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union Wednesday.

Randy Mayer, HIV/AIDS surveillance coordinator for the Iowa Department of Health, was on campus for a forum sponsored by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Alliance. He explained to about a dozen people how the disease is reported in Iowa and talked about blood donation guidelines and new testing technologies.

Jeremy Hayes, coordinator for LGBT Student Services and graduate student in educational leadership and policy studies, said Mayer was invited “as a reaction to feedback from the last time we had the blood drive here about the practice of excluding men who have sex with men.”

Anyone at increased risk for becoming infected with HIV is ineligible to donate blood.

Mayer said the HIV risk ineligibility is “not directed only at men who have sex with men.” The Food and Drug Administration defines increased risk with several criteria, including injected drug use and certain treatments for hemophilia.

Those who are at increased risk for HIV are excluded from donating blood because there’s a window of 11 to 12 days between the time someone becomes infected with the virus and the time he or she will test HIV-positive.

Even though every blood sample undergoes three separate tests, HIV cannot be detected in a sample from someone recently infected with the disease.

About one contaminated sample slips through in every 2 to 3 million samples, Mayer said.

“Testing technology cannot make the blood supply risk-free,” he said.

Three people have acquired HIV from blood transfusions this year. Mayer said two were infected from blood donated by someone in the window period, before HIV could be detected in the blood. The donor’s HIV status was detected at a subsequent blood donation, and the earlier use of the donor’s blood traced.

Mayer said ineligibility guidelines restricting men who have sex with men from donating blood is “discriminatory, and it’s based on the best science we can use.”

“Public health is about trade-offs,” he said.

Mayer said several things restrict who is eligible to donate blood.

Other guidelines specify that people who have recently been tattooed or traveled outside the United States are restricted from giving blood — at least for a certain length of time.

Kathy Hickok, professor of English, attended the presentation because she said she has been turned away from blood drives for various reasons.

“I’ve never yet succeeded in giving blood,” she said.

She said she thought Mayer’s presentation put the issue in perspective.

Mayer said it is important to be sensitive that many people are ineligible to give blood.

“Although you can be zealous in trying to get everyone there, recognize there are people who aren’t eligible,” he said.