Stop Collecting, FDA Tells Florida Blood Banks

The FDA is urging blood banks in two Florida counties to stop collections until they can test donations for Zika virus.

The recommendation comes as Florida health officials are investigating four cases of Zika infection, reported in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, that might have been transmitted locally.

Those cases might represent the first cases of local Zika transmission by mosquitoes in the continental U.S., according to Peter Marks, MD, PhD, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

As of Wednesday, the CDC said 1,658 cases of Zika have been reported in the U.S., the vast majority of them related to travel to Central and South America and the Caribbean, where the Zika outbreak is raging.

But the possibility of local transmission suggests it is "prudent" for blood banks in the two counties -- as well as those nearby -- to stop collections until they can test each donation for Zika, Marks said in a statement.

Marks said the establishments can use an investigational test for Zika RNA that is now available or they can wait until they can use a technology, either investigational or approved, that will inactivate the pathogen.

One Blood, a non-profit blood collection agency that serves much of Florida, said on its website that it will begin using the investigational RNA test Monday.

The agency plans to test blood donations for Zika, so that hospitals can get screened blood products "from unaffected areas to use with their high risk patients, such as pregnant women," the website said.

The molecular test has been in use in Puerto Rico since June.

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Stop Collecting, FDA Tells Florida Blood Banks