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Today I went up to the MLK Ballroom in order to, do my best to do my duty to God and my Country and to help other people, and give blood in the Big Game Blood Drive.

My roommate had signed me up for an appointment, but that turned out not to matter. I put my name and took my seat. The girl gave me an info packet. I studied the restrictions. They seemed strangely against blood from the UK. India was not mentioned anywhere.

I waited.

The woman added my name, social security, address, etc. into the computer.

I waited.

The woman asked me how I was feeling. I told her my throat has been sore the past few days. She asked me when/where I was in India. She looked up stuff in her binder, and told to come back in a year. The Red Cross thinks India is ripe with malaria.

Before our trip last winter I consulted with the travel nurse at the Tang Center. Among other things, she gave me a prescription for some anti-malarial drugs, but told me not to worry. The vast, vast majority of India is malaria free.

The CDC disagrees. According to them, “all areas lower than 2,000 meters (6,561 feet), including cities” are malarial zones. In my experience, the CDC is wrong.

Malaria was never a concern during my time in India. I was not concerned about malaria. No one I met there was concerned about malaria. Its time we stop painting an entire country with so broad a brush. We need to get smarter about these restrictions.

I’m not saying I should be allowed to give blood. We need to safeguard the integrity of our blood supply. Draconion policies on blood donorship are the best way of maintaining a safe blood supply.

However, blanket bans and quarantines are effective tools for controlling outbreaks like SARS. Malaria, where it does exist, is not an outbreak. It is a persistent, geographic condition. The CDC should be better able to recognize the limits of the geographic limits of malaria.

We should spread understanding, not fear.

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