Agency finds West Nile can be transmitted through transfusions

The Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Federal officials confirmed Monday for the first time that West Nile can be transmitted through blood transfusions, underscoring the need for a test to screen donated blood for the potentially deadly virus.

Experimental tests may be ready as early as next summer, but in the meantime, the Food and Drug Administration is urging blood banks to question donors more thoroughly and quickly remove suspected blood from their shelves.

The topic of West Nile drew a large crowd Monday at this week's annual meeting of the American Association of Blood Banks in Orlando.

"We are operating at a high level of alert and concern in an evolving situation," said Dr. Jay Epstein from the office of blood research and review within the FDA.

To date, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has nailed down blood transfusions as the cause of six cases of West Nile encephalitis. Another 27 potential cases remain under investigation. West Nile is a mosquito-borne disease that usually is passed to humans through bites from infected insects. Birds, horses and other animals also are susceptible, and the United States is in the worst outbreak of the disease since it first appeared here in 1999.