[Verginius Rufus]

I spent more than 6 months in Europe after Jan. 1, 1980, so for a while I could not give blood (until they changed the rule to 5 years in Europe) but I know there are still restrictions on people who were stationed at army bases or lived in the UK...yet I don't know if they have found a single case of mad cow disease being transmitted by a blood transfusion.

Paul Gann of Proposition 13 fame died of AIDS because of a blood transfusion. Arthur Ashe is another famous victim.

One of my professors got cancer and was given maybe 5 years to live. He died after 2 years from hepatitis after a blood transfusion. This was in 1977 before the AIDS epidemic began to be noticed, but he was in a part of the country with a disproportionate number of gay men, so I've always wondered if the hepatitis came from a gay donor. AIDS isn't the only danger. The professor was 67 and still a productive scholar.

[elcid1970]

I was stationed in Germany for 2 1/2 years from 1981 to 1983 yet I was told as late as 2010 before I retired, similar to what you just said, that mad cow is forever.

Would like to learn more about the five year rule you cited. Is there a difference, epidemilogically speaking, between being stationed in U.K., & stationed in Germany?