Blood banks to begin testing for West Nile.Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard Lane Memorial Blood Bank, along with every other blood bank in the country, will begin testing all donated blood for the West Nile virus West Nile virus, microorganism and the infection resulting from it, which typically produces no symptoms or a flulike condition. The virus is a flavivirus and is related to a number of viruses that cause encephalitis. starting July 1. The virus has yet to reach Oregon, but public health experts expect it to be here later this spring or early summer. Oregon is one of only four states that has had no reports of human or animal West Nile cases. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered the new testing regimen last fall after an investigation found that donated blood and transplanted organs were the source of some West Nile infections. Mosquitoes are the most common source, and 80 percent of people infected never exhibit symptoms. Testing blood for the West Nile virus is expensive, and will add another cost to an already burdened health care system, said Doug Engel, executive director of Lane Memorial Blood Bank. At $8.50 per pint, the test for the West Nile virus is the single most expensive test ever devised for the blood supply, Engel said. The next most costly test - for HIV HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. antigens, the viral particles that cause HIV - costs about $5 per pint. Starting in July, the cost of testing a pint of blood will increase from $29.10 to $45.35, with the West Nile virus test accounting for half the increase. The other half comes from rising costs of existing tests for HIV and Hepatitis C Hepatitis C Definition Hepatitis C is a form of liver inflammation that causes primarily a long-lasting (chronic) disease. Acute (newly developed) hepatitis C is rarely observed as the early disease is generally quite mild. , and a new test for Hepatitis B. Lane Memorial Blood Bank currently sells a unit of blood cells to hospitals for $112. "We'll have to pass this directly on to the hospitals," Engel said. "They're having to look very hard for money as it is." Administrators of Medicare and Medicaid Medicare and Medicaid U.S. government programs in effect since 1966. Medicare covers most people 65 or older and those with long-term disabilities. Part A, a hospital insurance plan, also pays for home health visits and hospice care. haven't increased reimbursements to hospitals for the higher cost of blood, he said. Most people who are infected with the West Nile virus won't develop any type of illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. . About 20 percent of people who become infected will develop West Nile fever West Nile fever West Nile meningoencephalitis Infectious disease An acute, mosquito-borne flaviviral infection endemic–rarely, epidemic–in the Near East, Africa, former Soviet Union, India Clinical After a 3-6 day incubation, children present with a : mild symptoms, including fever, headache and body aches, occasionally with a skin rash on the trunk of the body and swollen lymph glands swollen lymph glands Vox populi Lymphadenopathy, see there . Blood bank staff members will continue to ask its donors if they're feeling healthy when they're screened to give blood. They won't take blood from people who aren't feeling well. Those questions should also catch people who might possibly have contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Definition Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is the first emergent and highly transmissible viral disease to appear during the twenty-first century. , or SARS. No testing is available for SARS and it isn't known if it can be transmitted through blood. |
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