Blood banks use caution due to Zika virus

NEW YORK — Blood banks in the United States have begun asking potential donors not to give blood if within the past month they have visited a country in which the Zika virus is spreading.

The aim is to avoid contaminating the blood supply with the virus, said AABB, the group that represents most US blood donation groups.

Infection of pregnant women with the Zika virus may be linked to microcephaly — unusually small heads — in infants.

The American Red Cross has started to quiz potential donors about recent travel. But other blood banks are simply asking potentially infected donors to stay away.

“We are asking people to make their own judgement,” said Dr Steven Kleinman, the AABB’s senior medical advisor. “The main thing is, if you have travelled to Mexico, Central or South America, or the Caribbean, people shouldn’t donate blood in the first 28 days after their return.”

“It’s very precautionary,” he added. “We expect the large majority of people who return from those areas won’t be infected, but we are casting a wide net.”

Zika virus remains in the blood of an infected person for about a week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is no approved test that the banks can use to screen donated blood for the virus.

The Food and Drug Administration is developing criteria for deferring blood donors who have visited affected regions, an agency spokeswoman said.

Roughly 3 per cent of blood donors tested positive for Zika infection during an outbreak in French Polynesia in 2013, noted the AABB, formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks.

“The risk posed by Zika virus to the blood supply is unclear,” the organisation said in guidance to its members.

Officials at AABB and the American Red Cross said a case of sexually transmitted Zika infection, reported Tuesday (Feb 2) in Dallas, would have no immediate effect on blood donation policies. Neither organisation is asking people to abstain from blood donation if they have had sex with a person who recently travelled to a Zika-affected country.

“There is no strong evidence for widespread sexual transmission of Zika,” said Dr Susan Stramer, vice president of scientific affairs at the American Red Cross. “We are saying, just postpone donation for 28 days.”

On Tuesday, the CDC began advising pregnant women to avoid contact with semen from men recently exposed to the Zika virus. THE NEW YORK TIMES