West Nile Virus among Blood Donors in the United States, 2003 and 2004

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Abstract
West Nile virus first appeared in the United States in 1999 and has since spread throughout the contiguous states, resulting in thousands of cases of disease. By 2002, it was clear that the virus could be transmitted by blood transfusion, and by the middle of 2003, essentially all blood donations were being tested for West Nile virus RNA with the use of investigational nucleic acid amplification tests; testing was performed on individual samples or on “minipools” of up to 16 donations.