Some Florida blood to get Zika testing

WASHINGTON — The U. S. Food and Drug Administration is asking blood centers in two Florida counties immediately to stop collections. The counties are investigating possible localized transmission of the Zika virus.

In a notice sent to blood centers and posted on the agency’s website Wednesday evening, the FDA said it is requesting all blood centers in Miami- Dade and Broward counties to “cease collecting blood immediately” until those facilities can test individual units of blood donated in those two counties with a special investigational donor screening test for the Zika virus or until the establishments implement the use of an approved or investigational pathogen- inactivation technology.

Blood banks in the two counties said they would begin screening donations for Zika virus using an FDA- approved test beginning today, but it was unclear Thursday whether or when collections in south Florida had ceased.

The action by the FDA comes as health officials in Florida said Wednesday that they were investigating two Zika cases that could have been spread by local mosquitoes, in addition to two similar cases they announced last week. Health officials have not confirmed whether any of the infected individuals acquired the virus from local mosquitoes, but it seems increasingly likely.

“These may be the first cases of local Zika virus transmission by mosquitoes in the continental United States,” the FDA said in its notice. It said it was making the request of blood- collection establishments “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.”

The FDA is also recommending that nearby counties also put these precautions in place as soon as possible to maintain the safety of the blood supply. For blood- collection establishments outside the region, the FDA is recommending that donors who have traveled to Miami- Dade and Broward counties during the previous four weeks defer on donating blood.

The FDA alerted Florida’s surgeon general and the major blood- collection industry organization Wednesday night. On Thursday morning, the FDA also reached out to blood- collection establishments in Florida, starting with the state’s largest blood collectors, said Tara Goodin, an FDA spokesman.

The main organization collecting blood in Florida, OneBlood, said last week that it had been alerted by public- health authorities about the suspected non-travel-related Zika case under investigation in south Florida. OneBlood said that if the case was confirmed, it would stop collections in the affected ZIP code and bring in blood from unaffected areas to supply blood needs in that region.

The organization also said it had received approval to use the investigational tool and planned to start testing donated blood for the Zika virus starting Monday.

The organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest FDA request.