Use of Nucleic Acid Tests to Reduce the Risk of Transmission of West Nile Virus from Donors of Whole Blood and Blood Components Intended for Transfusion 1.0.0

We, FDA, are issuing this guidance to provide you¹  with recommendations for testing donations of Whole Blood and blood components for West Nile Virus (WNV) using an FDA-licensed donor screening assay² .  We believe that the use of a licensed nucleic acid test (NAT) will reduce the risk of transmission of WNV, and therefore recommend that you use a licensed to screen donors of Whole Blood and blood components intended for transfusion for infection with WNV.