SAEN: Universal testing of blood donations key step in fight against Zika

By Elizabeth Waltman

Posted September 5, 2016

Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended universal Zika testing of all blood donations in the United States and its territories. This recommendation is an important step to safeguard the blood supply by ensuring that Zika-infected blood is not transfused into patients. This measure protects some of the most vulnerable members of our community: pregnant women and their unborn children.

In July, anticipating the spread of the disease, the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center, or STBTC, became one of the first three blood banks in the continental U.S. to implement voluntary Zika testing for blood donors. We did this because San Antonio’s patients and hospitals depend on our blood supply, and we knew that if even one person contracted Zika from infected blood, we would have failed in our mission.

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-San Antonio, expressed early concern about the impact on public health of the Zika virus and called for full funding to fight it. He contacted STBTC in the spring with questions about the blood supply. This summer, we asked him if he would reach out to the FDA and encourage other blood banks to implement Zika testing of donations before local transmission occurred. He immediately took up the cause of universal testing and assembled a bipartisan group of members of Congress, who urged the FDA to implement the policy. Doggett’s leadership and his coalition of key legislators prompted the decision to recommend universal Zika testing across the United States.

This is how government should work — Doggett heard our concerns, met with stakeholders and urged San Antonio’s leadership be followed by communities nationwide. Now, we strongly request that the congressional majority pass a long-overdue bipartisan funding bill that enables the public health community’s ability to prevent the spread of and effects from the Zika virus.

Almost daily, researchers all over the world are discovering new details about Zika’s mode of transmission, how long it stays active, and the effects on those infected. We now know the virus can be present in the body longer than previously realized and can cause medical issues beyond microcephaly, which affects unborn children, and Guillain-Barré syndrome, which can cause paralysis and death.

Universal testing means all donations must be tested for Zika; therefore, beginning Sept. 23, STBTC can no longer accept blood donations from donors who do not consent to the Zika test. Currently, about 12 percent of our donors do not consent to be tested for Zika, which could have a significant impact on the blood supply. We are working to improve that statistic by educating donors about the importance of testing blood for Zika and asking them to carefully consider providing consent. To consent to a Zika test, all a donor needs to do is provide an additional signature. A sample of blood is taken from the donation, just as we already do for HIV, hepatitis and other infectious diseases.

Because 80 percent of those infected with Zika do not have symptoms, testing the blood of donors can provide early detection of transmission.

Ultimately, STBTC and blood centers across the United States are committed to the safety and availability of the blood supply, but we cannot do it alone. We need our communities to continue to donate blood and consent to the tests needed to keep blood safe and available for patients, and we need a bipartisan bill passed that fully funds additional efforts to combat the virus.

Elizabeth Waltman is chief operating officer of the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center.