Zika Prompts New Rules for Florida Blood Donations

TAMPA BAY, FL — Tampa Bay area residents who give blood will notice a lengthier screening process before a green light is given for a draw. OneBlood, which provides blood products to hospitals and clinics throughout the region and state, has announced the immediate start of more rigorous screening following the "likely" confirmation of four locally acquired, mosquito-transmitted Zika virus cases in Florida.

Anyone who donates blood through OneBlood’s service area in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina will now have to go through an investigational donor screening test, the agency reported Friday.

“If testing reveals a unit of blood is reactive for the Zika virus, OneBlood will quarantine the unit, notify the donor and alert the Florida Department of Health, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control,” OneBlood reported in a statement.

Zika virus is a mosquito-borne illness that is characterized by a fever, rash and joint pain. While the illness typically resolves within a week, some severe cases may require hospitalization.

The CDC has confirmed that the Zika virus is responsible for causing severe defects in unborn children, including microcephaly, which leaves babies with abnormally small heads and often with brains that do not develop properly.

Until Friday, the 1,400 or so cases identified in the U.S. had all been contracted while people were traveling out of the country or through sexual transmission. The CDC has confirmed a number of sexually transmitted Zika virus cases in the country. The 15th case, reported in New York earlier this month, was the first in which a woman transmitted the disease to a man. New York, like Florida, has also had a baby born with a Zika virus-related defect.

“Florida’s small case cluster is not considered widespread transmission,” the FDOH said Friday of the four cases in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

As travel-related Zika virus cases began to climb in Florida earlier this year. OneBlood also began taking measures to protect the local blood supply. Those measures have included adding additional deferral guidelines for donors, updating donor history questions and providing donors with educational materials.

Tampa Bay area residents who wish to donate blood must be in generally good health and age 16 or older. Donors must weigh at least 110 pounds. To find out more, visit www.oneblood.org.

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