DAYTON — Community Blood Center is taking additional precautions against the Zika virus out of concern that local donors may have traveled to two counties in Florida where the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has requested the suspension of blood collections.
The CBC is asking anyone who has traveled to Florida’s Miami-Dade or Broward counties in the last four weeks to self-defer from registering to donate blood.
Currently, potential donors who have traveled to Zika endemic areas in the Caribbean, Mexico and Central or South America are deferred from donating for 28 days. The CBC will expand the 28-day deferral to include potential donors who have traveled to Florida’s Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
The organization is in the process of adding questions about travel to Miami-Dade and Broward counties to the blood donor screening questionnaire. The new travel restriction will go into effect this week.
Adding new travel restrictions has the potential to impact the available blood supply by further limiting the number of people able to donate. Zika travel deferments already in place and stricter FDA requirements for hemoglobin level and pulse screening that went into effect May 23 already represent a 2 percent potential impact on the donor deferral rate.
CBC asks eligible donors to please consider helping CBC offset this impact and help area patients in need of blood by making an appointment to donate at www.donortime.com.
Connect with Community Blood Center for the latest information and services at www.givingblood.org.