TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Efforts to combat the spread of the Zika virus continued to intensify Friday.
The Food and Drug Administration announced it wants all U.S. blood banks to start screening for the virus, a major expansion intended to protect the nation’s blood supply from the mosquito-borne disease. Tampa officials worked with residents to decimate mosquito breeding grounds.
At One Blood in Tampa employees have already been screening for Zika. The FDA directive is nothing new to them.
“These are very proactive precautionary measures that are being put in place,” Doctor Rita Reik of One Blood said.
Reik said she wasn’t surprised by the announcement. Just last month the FDA ordered blood centers in Miami and Fort Lauderdale to stop accepting donations until screenings could begin.
Dr. Reik said the public should not be alarmed about transfusions. “I think you can be assured that the blood supply is quite safe,” she said.
Florida is home to the first non-travel related case of the Zika virus in the U.S. There are at least 42 non-travel related cases in three counties.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has traveled around the state, hosting weekly roundtable discussions since Zika cases were discovered in Florida. He said he’ll push representatives to approve Zika funding once Congress returns from its recess.
Also on Friday, the CDC reported the first sexually transmitted case where the infected person showed no symptoms.
