Amid Possible Local Transmission Reports, FDA Officials Request Blood Testing in Florida

Officials with the Food and Drug Administration are requesting that all blood establishments in the Miami-Dade and Broward County areas of Florida cease collecting blood and that blood establishments begin testing donated blood after several reports of non-travel related cases of Zika virus in those areas. 

In a statement, Peter Marks, MD, PhD, Director, FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research notes that officials there are “working closely with companies that are making blood screening tests available under an Investigational New Drug application (IND) to ensure that these companies are ready to expand testing as needed.”

He added that “blood collection establishments in the rest of the United States may also choose now or in the future to participate in testing under IND, even in the absence of local mosquito-borne transmission of Zika virus.”

Health officials from the FDA, the CDC and Florida State  are investigating the cases, which seem unrelated to travel and could suggest local transmission of the virus, according to CDC officials.

Reference

1.  FDA Statement. Statement from Peter Marks, M.D., PhD, Director, FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. 2016.