“The health department’s goal is to stop local transmission”, said Communicable Disease Epidemiology Supervisor Shawn Kiernan at a Zika town hall meeting at the West Springfield Government Center last week.
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The FDA is already testing blood in Florida and Puerto Rico.
United Blood Services helps administer blood drives in Las Cruces including the Las Cruces Battle of the Badges Blood Drive.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is recommending all blood banks and clinics, nationwide, test every single blood donation for the potentially debilitating virus.
Also today the CDC reported the first known case of a person without any zika symptoms in the U.S. unknowingly transmitting the virus to a sexual partner. The remaining states in that first tier include Alabama, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina and Texas.
The new recommendation expands the guidance to all US states and territories.
All other US states and territories will have three months to comply.
So far, 43 cases of locally transmitted Zika have been identified in the US, all in Florida.
The unidentified man didn’t get sick after traveling to Zika-hit Dominican Republic – but his partner, who hadn’t visited an affected area, was diagnosed with the virus after they had sex. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in addition to birth defects and other pregnancy problems, several countries that have experienced Zika outbreaks recently have reported increases in people who have Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), an uncommon sickness of the nervous system in which a person’s own immune system damages the nerve cells, causing muscle weakness, and sometimes, paralysis.
High school students are among the biggest blood donors and there is one change that might affect donations, Veloz said. “So they have to bring the permission slip back”.
Sese said INOVA is working with a company on a device that will effectively detect Zika in human blood.
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Veloz said donations of blood are lower in the summer and should pick up now that schools are back in session.
