FDA Approves First Test to Screen for West Nile Virus

FDA today announced the approval of the first West Nile Virus (WNV) blood test to screen donors of blood, organs, cells and tissues. The Procleix WNV Assay, developed by Gen-Probe Inc., and marketed by Chiron Corporation, detects viral genetic material (ribonucleic acid or RNA). This new test will help protect patients who receive blood and other such products against West Nile infection.

WNV is typically transmitted to humans by mosquito bites. Over twenty thousand people have been infected by the virus causing over seven hundred fatalities. In 2002, it was found that this virus can be transmitted in blood. Thirty cases which include nine deaths have been attributed to the spread of the virus through a blood transfusion procedure.

This test is a result of the combined efforts of the health authorities and the industry to come up with a test that would screen out carriers of this virus and hence maintain a safe blood supply.

More information can be found at: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2005/NEW01266.html

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