2003
West Nile Virus
Viremic Blood Donor
Activity in the United States
A total of 818 presumptively viremic blood donors (PVD) have been reported to CDC's ArboNET surveillance program through state and local health departments. A PVD is a person who was asymptomatic at the time of donating blood (people with symptoms are deferred from donating) through a blood collection agency, but whose blood tested positive in preliminary tests when screened for the presence of West Nile virus. PVDs are followed up by the blood agency to verify their infection with additional tests. Some PVDs do go on to develop symptoms after donation, at which point they would be included in the count of human disease cases by their state. Data
table: |