Blood-Donation Screening for West Nile is a Success

NEW YORK (AP) — Screening blood donations for the West Nile virus to prevent its spread is working, though a few contaminated units have been missed, according to reports on the first two years of testing.

The nation’s blood supply has been screened for West Nile virus since the summer of 2003, after it became apparent that the mosquito- borne illness could be passed through transfusions.

Since then, West Nile infections have been found in 1,039 of the 27 million blood donations screened, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means about 1,500 transfusions of tainted-blood products were prevented, said the CDC’s Dr. Lyle Petersen.