Considering the possibility of travel-related infection, the FDA guidelines issued in February for screening of donated blood in Florida is extended to all the US territories.
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The Community Blood Center in Dayton said Friday it will comply with the government’s new guidelines calling for all USA blood banks to start screening for mosquito-borne Zika virus.
Due to their increased risk for contamination, 11 states must put the new safeguards into place as soon as possible, but no later than four weeks from today. These states include areas where Zika is actively spreading by various means, including mosquitoes and sexual transmission.
More than 2,500 people in the United States have been diagnosed with Zika, along with more than 9,000 in Puerto Rico and other USA territories, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Testing of donated blood is already underway in Florida and Puerto Rico.
Blood centers in Colorado and across the country have been working to prevent the spread of the Zika virus.
Asked if federal officials shouldn’t err on the side of caution, AuBuchon said there is legitimate concern for protecting the blood supply from Zika.
No blood donations have tested positive for Zika so far, officials said.
The first local travel-associated case of Zika virus was documented this week in Santa Barbara County and involves a pregnant woman.
Though the Red Cross does not collect blood in South Florida, as of August 1, Red Cross centers across the nation stopped accepting donations from people who have traveled to Miami-Dade County during the previous four weeks.
“We’ve come to a critical juncture: the risk to the blood supply combined with the uncertainty about the nature and extent of Zika virus transmission”, Marks said.
No new cases involving local transmission of the disease through mosquito bites were reported Friday. “I’ll keep coming. If they tell me they can’t use my blood then i’ll come back next time I’m eligible”.
According to the Florida Department of Health, three new travel-related cases were confirmed in Pinellas County.
The Zika virus outbreak began in Brazil in early 2015 and has spread to neighbouring countries.
Zika virus infection during pregnancy has caused serious birth defects in a few cases in the US and hundreds of cases in Central and South America where infants have been born with microcephaly, a condition where the brain and skull are malformed.
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Currently, the CDC urges couples who want to become pregnant to wait at least eight weeks if one of the partners has traveled to an area with active Zika virus transmission but did not develop symptoms.
