Limitation of West Nile Virus transmission through transfusion of blood/blood components — Polish recommendations

For many years, the West Nile virus (WNV) has been the focus of attention of specialists in transfusion medicine due to documented transmission of the virus through blood and blood components. In the recent years, a periodic increase in the number of infections in Europe (2018) has been reported as well as outbreaks of infections among animals and people in areas where the presence of the virus has not been observed so far. The study updates biological and epidemiological data on WNV published in 2013 (Journal of Transfusion Medicine) [1] and suggests measures to be taken to prevent the spread of WNV human infections via transfusion if WNV infections occurred in Poland. National recommendations were based on international guidelines developed by specialists in transfusion medicine and infectious diseases in cooperation with research centers that monitor epidemiology of the virus.