FDA - Blood Collection and Zika Virus in Florida

On 27 July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published the following Advice to Blood Collection Establishments on Non-Travel Related Cases of Zika Virus in Florida:

"The Office of the Florida Department of Health State Surgeon General has announced that it is conducting an epidemiological investigation into a number of non-travel related cases of Zika virus in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. These may be the first cases of local Zika virus transmission by mosquitoes in the continental United States. Miami-Dade County and Broward County are adjacent counties in South Florida.

In consideration of the possibility of an emerging local outbreak of Zika virus, and as a prudent measure to help assure the safety of blood and blood products, FDA is requesting that all blood establishments in Miami-Dade County and Broward County cease collecting blood immediately until the blood establishments implement testing of each individual unit of blood collected in the two counties with an available investigational donor screening test for Zika virus RNA or until the blood establishments implement the use of an approved or investigational pathogen inactivation technology.

Additionally, FDA recommends that adjacent and nearby counties implement the precautions above to help maintain the safety of the blood supply as soon as possible.

For blood collection establishments outside of this region, FDA suggests that donors who have traveled to Miami-Dade and Broward Counties during the previous 4 weeks be deferred.

FDA will continue to monitor this potential outbreak in cooperation with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Florida State public health authorities and provide updates as additional information becomes available".

Source: "Advice to Blood Collection Establishments on Non-Travel Related Cases of Zika Virus in Florida" on the FDA website.