All U.S. Blood Donations Should Be Screened For Zika, FDA Says 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Toby Talbot/AP Toby Talbot/AP 
 
 The Food and Drug Administration is recommending that blood banks screen all blood donations in the U.S. for the Zika virus. 
 
 It's a major expansion from a Feb. 16 advisory that limited such screening to areas with active Zika virus transmission. 
 
 In a statement released Friday, the FDA says all those areas are currently in compliance with blood screening, but that expanded testing is now needed. 
 
 "As new scientific and epidemiological information regarding Zika virus has become available, it's clear that additional precautionary measures are necessary," the FDA's acting chief scientist, Luciana Borio, said in the statement. 
 
 The expansion of testing won't happen all at once. The FDA is advising blood establishments in 11 states to begin testing within the next four weeks. Those states include Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina and Texas. 
 
 These states are in proximity to areas where Zika is actively spreading via mosquitoes or where there are a significant number of cases related to other exposures, including sexual transmission. 
 
 Within 12 weeks, blood facilities in all states should be testing donations for Zika, the FDA says. 
 
 Currently, Zika is being spread by mosquitoes in South Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as most countries in the Caribbean and Central and South America. There are a total of 2,517 cases of Zika in the U.S. states and D.C., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with 9,011 more in U.S. territories. 
 
 Most of the cases within the U.S. are related to travel abroad or sexual transmission. The cases in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are a mix of travel-related cases and locally acquired infections via mosquitoes or sex. 
 
 In issuing the new recommendations, the agency noted that 4 out of 5 people infected with Zika virus never develop symptoms. Thus, questions that blood banks routinely ask about the risks of disease might not catch people who have been exposed and who have been infected with the Zika virus. 
 
 Zika virus infection during pregnancy has caused serious birth defects in a few cases in the U.S. and hundreds of cases in Central and South America where infants have been born with microcephaly, a condition where the brain and skull are malformed. 
 
 There have been no cases of Zika related to blood transfusions in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
 
 "There is still much uncertainty regarding the nature and extent of Zika virus transmission," says Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "At this time, the recommendation for testing the entire blood supply will help ensure that safe blood is available for all individuals who might need transfusion." 
 
 In a news conference Friday, Marks said that there had been one case in Florida where a unit of donated blood was tested and taken out of the blood supply. Other units where Zika is suspected are currently under investigation, he said. ||||| CLOSE The FDA recommended expanding the screening process for all blood donations in the U.S. WIBBITZ 
 
 Municipal workers clean the streets in Miami Beach to control the spread of mosquitoes. Local authorities are taking steps to prevent an outbreak of Zika in the city while they are waiting to confirm Miami Beach as the new zone of the virus transmission. (Photo: CRISTOBAL HERRERA, EPA) 
 
 The Food and Drug Administration on Friday recommended expanding the screening process for all blood donations in the U.S. as a precaution against contaminating the blood supply with the mosquito-borne Zika virus. 
 
 The new recommendation expands the guidance to all U.S. states and territories. Previously, the FDA only advised screening in areas with active Zika cases, such as parts of Florida and throughout Puerto Rico. 
 
 “At this time, the recommendation for testing the entire blood supply will help ensure that safe blood is available for all individuals who might need transfusion," said Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a statement. 
 
 The new order comes in the wake of the first locally acquired Zika cases in the continental U.S. More than 40 people in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties in Florida have been diagnosed with the virus since officials announced its appearance there earlier this month. Previously, all cases within the continental U.S. were travel-related. 
 
 Florida Surgeon General Celeste Philip said the state's largest blood collection centers have been testing all donations for Zika since the beginning of August, when health officials confirmed the first locally transmitted case of Zika near downtown Miami. She said expanding that makes sense since the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries the virus is prevalent throughout most of the southern United States. 
 
 "I think there is scientific rationale for why that is important," she said after a meeting of government officials in Miami Beach, the latest area hit by locally-transmitted Zika cases. 
 
 The FDA updated its guidance due to the potential serious health consequences of Zika to pregnant women and children born to women exposed to the virus during pregnancy. The Zika virus is transmitted primarily by the Aedes mosquito but can also be spread by sexual contact. Although most people infected with the virus never develop symptoms, an infection during pregnancy can cause serious birth defects and is associated with other adverse pregnancy outcomes, the FDA warns. 
 
 Around 2,200 Zika cases have been reported in the continental U.S. and more than 13,000 in Puerto Rico, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of the cases within the continental U.S. involved individuals who contracted the virus while traveling in another country, while most of the Puerto Rico cases were locally acquired. 
 
 Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday he would travel to Washington when Congress reconvenes next month to urge legislators to pass emergency Zika funding for his state and others that will soon be affected by the virus. He said his requests for assistance — from Zika tests kits from the CDC to research money to find a vaccine — have not been met and he worries that the federal government hasn't done enough to corral the fast-spreading virus. 
 
 "Congress went on recess," he said. "So I'd say that no, the federal government has not been a good partner." 
 
 Contributing: Alan Gomez in Miami 
 
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– The FDA is getting even more serious about stopping the spread of Zika, recommending Friday that all blood donations in the US be screened for the virus, USA Today reports. Previously, it had recommended screening donations only in areas where Zika was spreading—mostly Florida and Puerto Rico. According to NPR, none of the more than 2,000 Zika cases in the continental US have come from tainted blood transfusions, but at least one unit of donated blood in Florida tested positive for the virus. “At this time, the recommendation for testing the entire blood supply will help ensure that safe blood is available for all individuals who might need transfusion," says an FDA statement. Eleven states are asked to start testing their blood donations within the next four weeks. Those are: Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, South Carolina, and Texas. The rest are asked to start testing within 12 weeks.