Soldiers who served in Iraq will not be allowed to give blood for a year after returning home, because of a rare skin parasite that has infected 22 members of the military, federal health officials said Thursday.
The disease, called leishmaniasis, is rarely deadly but can cause serious skin lesions and can be spread through the blood supply. Since August of last year, 18 members of the military have caught the parasite in Iraq, plus two each in Kuwait and Afghanistan.
The Pentagon estimated the potential loss of blood donors at more than 12,000 people. But many of the servicemen would not have been allowed to donate anyway because they were in areas where malaria is endemic.
The parasite is common in parts of central and southern Asia and infects more than 1.5 million people a year. The small, circular lesions are painless but can leave scars.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reported that the parasites can be spread through blood transfusions, although there are no known cases of that happening in the United States.
As a precaution, returning servicemen will be barred from donating blood for a year. The Defense Department and the nation’s largest association of blood banks ordered the measure.
The blood ban does not apply to members of the military who were only in Kuwait or Afghanistan.
A similar order was issued after the Gulf War in 1990-91, when 12 members of the military caught the leishmaniasis parasite.