“Eighteen countries and territories have reported an increased incidence of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) and/or laboratory confirmation of a Zika virus infection among GBS cases”, the group said.
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On Friday, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration recommended that all U.S. blood donations should be screened for Zika.
This new twist in the myriad ways Zika can spread should strengthen warnings to couples hoping to start a family if either one plans to travel anywhere the virus is active, health officials said.
Asked on a conference call with reporters about funding the new safeguards, Dr. Peter Marks, the director of the F.D.A.s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said, I cant speak to the cost of implementation at this time..
The recommendations are an acknowledgment that sexual transmission may facilitate the spread of Zika even in areas where mosquitoes carrying the virus are not present.
Despite calling them “nonbinding recommendations”, an FDA spokesperson told 9NEWS these are actually requirements.
The Maryland case is unusual and doesn’t warrant a change in advice when it comes to protection during sex, said the CDC’s Dr. John T. Brooks. “As such, if an establishment does not comply with these requirements, the FDA can enforce the requirements with compliance actions, if appropriate”.
“We certainly have a lot of people traveling back and forth, we have the mosquitoes that can transmit it … so we were certainly a place at risk”, he said.
“Beginning in the middle of February we began deferring anybody from giving blood for 28 days after they traveled to a Zika impacted area”, said Thew. “Luckily the FDA realizes this and is giving blood centers in Tennessee and Kentucky twelve weeks to meet the new guidelines”. Several testing sites are already voluntarily using the technology, including blood centres in Texas.
While precautionary measures have been stepped up, the authorities warned of more cases as most infected persons may display mild or no symptoms.
The FDA is now recommending immediate testing in states and territories with one or more reported locally acquired mosquito-borne cases of Zika.
The MOH-NEA statement said: “With the presence of Zika in our region and the volume of travel by Singaporeans as well as tourists, it is inevitable that there will be imported cases of Zika into Singapore”.
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There are 584 pregnant women in the mainland United States with lab evidence of Zika infection, and 812 in the USA territories. The virus poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects.
