Reason for Blood Donor Deferral for Exposure to Leishmaniasis Presented by deployment illness advocate Venus-Val Hammack 12/11/03 HQ: Mass State House, 24 Beacon St. Ste Boston MA v:

This soldier went to blood drive a year post deployment in Middle East combat Operations. The Donation staff in a civilian facility was willing to a accept this blood unaware of her Leishmaniasis Status.

Currently National Guard and Reserve members of Operation Enduring Freedom return home unaware they are ban from blood donations and were planning to do so- Dec 2003

With sign of only a insect bite; A latency period of years before detection by diagnostics analysis. How many have passed this parasite to family members already? How many of these individuals have been Marrow donors ? Military Among General Population

The US Assistant Secretary of Defense has estimated that the incubation period is usually under 6 months and has consequently imposed a 12-month ban on donating blood from the date of departure from Iraq, estimating that this will result in the loss of a further blood donors... DoD fails to address Visceral Leishmaniasis in its communications to the troops and veterans. It is this omission which bring this population into the blood pool.

RAPD PCR Analysis For Visceral (VL): Expensive costs $$ Proper samples painful to obtain. Dormant period varies in each patient. It take years to reach detection levels for analysis procedure. Years for additional refinement necessary.

PCR-positive pooled aliquots of sand flies collected from An Nasiriyah were positive by species-specific PCR for _L. infantum_, which can cause visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis. Leishmania in US troops from Iraq, Kuwait, & Afghanistan American soldiers immune system are as ignorant as childrens.

Lifetime Ban for all servicepersons who deployed to Middle East operations 1990 to present This veterans group demand To save our love ones from this time bomb Of a Threat