The High Council for Public Health (HCSP) issues recommendations on the revision of blood donor selection criteria related to infectious risks. In addition to the 4 criteria on which it had to rule, the HCSP has chosen to add some that are subject to a temporary contraindication to blood donation for 4 months: acupuncture, varicose vein sclerosis, mesotherapy, and endoscopy with flexible instrument. After having systematically studied the scientific justification for the present measures, international recommendations and the arguments for and against their maintenance, the HCSP recommends:

• with regard to previous episode(s) of blood transfusion and to travel or stays in the United Kingdom exceeding one cumulative year in the period from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 1996, to maintain the permanent exclusion measures in force, in particular in view of the uncertainties about the evolution of the epidemic of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease; the HCSP is awaiting new recommendations from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for the harmonization of practices in this area within the European Union;
• with regard to certain dental implants considered as an allograft because they can be associated with human bone derivatives, to exempt virus-inactivated products from contraindications to donation, which is the case for all dental implants involving bone substitutes of human or animal origin placed in France; the HCSP incidentally emphasizes that this point is not the subject of systematic investigation through the questionnaire submitted to candidates for donation to support the pre-donation interview conducted by a doctor or an authorized nurse;
• with regard to the selection criteria linked to procedures involving a risk of exposure to blood and justifying a temporary contraindication (piercing, tattooing, acupuncture, varicose vein sclerosis, mesotherapy, endoscopy with flexible instrument), to reduce the exclusion period from 4 months to 2 months due to the genomic tests implemented for identifying an active infection by the hepatitis C virus; moreover, if the donor can certify that single-use equipment was used for acupuncture, varicose vein sclerosis or mesotherapy, there is no exclusion measure.