Blood donations to act as ‘early warning system’ for viruses reaching UK

File image. iStock.com/fortise

By Daniel Pye

The NHS has begun testing blood donations for viruses that could spread to the UK due to climate change so it can more quickly respond if infections began emerging in the population.

NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) started collecting the first of 5,000 samples from consenting blood donors for its ‘CODONET’ blood sample archive on Wednesday.

These will be initially used to detect tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), West Nile virus and Usutu virus.

The NHSBT archive will be combined with data on donor exposure to ticks, mosquitoes or other animals, travel history and vaccinations, collected by the UK Health Security Agency.

It is hoped this data will help improve rapid responses to emerging virus outbreaks in the future, such as targeted screening in certain blood centres or postcodes for surveillance.

Dr Amanda Semper, UKHSA project lead, said: “This new programme will help deepen our surveillance, acting as an early warning of infections for when [the viruses] do arrive here, further strengthening our ability to detect them early.”