Singapore's health officials say some individuals thought to be carrying the disease have been admitted to the hospital. In order to interrupt the transmission of the infection, the government commissioned a task force to investigate the outbreak and ordered closing all kindergartens and child-care centers for at least 10 days. FDA declines to life ban on homosexual men as blood donors. The ban on blood donations from homosexual men remains intact. An advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration narrowly voted to maintain the ban.
Critics say the ban is discriminatory and outdated.
An estimated 62,300 homosexual men would donate blood if the ban was lifted. The American Red Cross is among the proponents of the ban since blood screening is imperfect and each year 10 HIV infected units slip through the system accounting for two to three cases of donor transmitted HIV infections.