There are new concerns over the Zika virus after two more people in Florida were diagnosed with the virus, even though they didn't leave the country.
In light of the investigations into those Zika cases, the Food and Drug Administration is now requesting that all blood banks in Miami-Dade and Broward counties to stop collecting blood immediately.
Blood banks are scheduled to begin testing donations for the virus on Monday, but one regional blood bank will begin testing immediately.
Effective immediately, all blood collections throughout OneBlood's service area in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina will be tested for the Zika virus using an investigational donor screening test.
OneBlood has donation centers and bloodmobile locations scheduled in Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Estero, and Port Charlotte, as well as most of Florida and parts of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.
If testing reveals a unit of blood is reactive for the Zika virus, OneBlood says they will quarantine the unit, notify the donor and alert the Florida Department of Health, the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control.
