The government told all USA blood banks Friday to start screening for Zika, a major expansion meant to protect the nation’s blood supply from the mosquito-borne virus.
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The FDA is recommending that all donated blood in the U.S.be tested for Zika.
Before MEDIC announced their decision to prepare for Zika testing, they deferred donors who had recently traveled to areas where the virus had been transmitted locally, including parts of South America, Central America, the Caribbean, and South Florida.
The FDA recommended centers in Texas, Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York and SC begin testing within the next four weeks “because of their proximity to areas with locally acquired mosquito-borne cases of ZIKV (Zika virus) or because of other epidemiological linkage to ZIKV, such as the number of travel-associated cased reported”.
The timeline for rolling out the blood testing nationwide is aggressive and the effort promises to be a logistically challenging one.
“This really has been an issue for people who want to travel, but still want to support the blood supply and save lives”, said the Region Donor Center’s Director Jennifer Rhamy.
Minister for Health, Mr Gan Kim Yong, said, “MOH and NEA are working together to carry out vector control and testing of residents in that area with fever and rashes so as to reduce the risk of further spread”. And once they do we go ahead test, we allow them to donate and we test for it. After visiting a general practitioner on 26 August, she was referred to the Communicable Diseases Centre (CDC) at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where she was tested positive for Zika on 27 August.
If no screening test is available, blood collection agencies can purify blood platelets or plasma using one of the FDA’s approved methods.
The mosquito-borne Zika virus has triggered an epidemic of birth defects that leave newborns with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains.
The illness is spread primarily through mosquito bites, though sometimes through sexual transmission or a blood transfusion. Most infected people don’t show any symptoms.
Assuming the weekly need is met, that could lead to a Zika testing cost of up to $10,000 a week for LifeShare Blood Centers. In the next four weeks, the blood testing is expected to expand to 11 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina and Texas.
In February, Congress denied Obama’s request for $1.9 billion to fund Zika prevention and management including mosquito control, virus tracking, accelerated diagnostic testing, vaccines and monitoring women and babies with the virus.
The agency says all donations must be screened for the disease.
President Obama in his statement in the Congress underlined the importance of Zika funding, being noted that it’ll be the first priority for senators when they come back to the work in seven weeks.
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Its officers are inspecting premises for larvae and may need to gain entry into inaccessible premises by force after serving notices, it said.
