All blood donated in the U.S. should be screened for Zika to prevent the virus from spreading through transfusions, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday. The Zika virus is spread by mosquitoes through their bites. If no screening test is available, blood collection agencies can purify blood platelets or plasma using one of the FDA’s approved methods. In the future, if a pathogen reduction technology becomes available for red blood cells or for whole blood, these methods could be used instead of a nucleic acid test, the FDA said. All blood collection should be put on hold until the new procedures can be implemented, the FDA advises.

Source: Los Angeles Times August 26, 2016 15:23 UTC