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News Release
OneBlood begins Zika virus testing -- effective immediately
The proactive measure further ensures safety of the blood supply.
Orlando, Florida -- Effective immediately, all blood collections throughout OneBlood’s service area in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina will be tested for the Zika virus using an investigational donor screening test.
With testing beginning, OneBlood operations remain business as usual and collections will continue throughout its service areas, uninterrupted.
The move comes on the heels of the FDA requesting blood donations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties be tested for the Zika virus. The guidance was issued in light of the Florida Department of Health investigating four possible non-travel related cases of the Zika virus.
Upon learning of FDA’s recommendations, OneBlood moved swiftly to implement testing in the two South Florida counties and proactively decided to implement system wide testing of all blood donations collected throughout its entire service area.
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.
Safety of the blood supply is OneBlood’s top priority. The additional proactive steps OneBlood implemented earlier this year to protect the local blood supply from the Zika virus remain in effect including enacting additional donor deferral guidelines, updating the donor history questionnaire to include Zika specific questions and issuing educational materials to donors.
Click here to go behind-the-scenes of our operations and see the technology that has been put in place to screen blood donations for the Zika virus.
