Screening blood donors for Zika virus is not cost-effective in the United States or Puerto Rico, according to a study published Jan. 8 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Despite U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements, analysis shows that universal screening of donated blood would only be cost-effective in the high mosquito season in Puerto Rico and never in the 50 states. “To reduce the vulnerability of the blood supply to emerging and reemerging pathogens, public officials have responded to newly discovered transfusion-transmitted infections (TTIs) with recommendations for donor deferrals, antibody and NAT screening, and use of approved pathogen reduction technology,” writes Katherine Ellingson, Ph.D., from University of Arizona, Tucson, and Matthew Kuehnert, M.D., from MTF Biologics in Edison, N.J., in an accompanying editorial. “Successes and failures in the implementation of these strategies have led the public to expect near-zero acceptable risk for TTIs. Maintaining such low levels of risk comes at a substantial cost.” In August 2016, the FDA began requiring universal individual donor nucleic acid test (ID-NAT) screening for Zika virus in the United States and territories. In July 2018, the FDA issued revised guidance recommending universal mini-pool NAT (MP-NAT; 6 to 16 pooled sample donations) with […]