US blood quarantine

Blood banks in the US are quarantining all plasma frozen during the West Nile virus epidemic in order to reduce the risk of the disease spreading. An estimated 30,000 pints of plasma will be affected. Federal health officials only found out in September that it is possible, although unlikely, for West Nile to be spread through donated blood or organs. Of more than 3,800 cases of the virus this year, about 13 are thought to have been caused by a blood transfusion.

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The Associated Press Online 13/12/02 and NetDoctor Daily News 13 Dec 2002