Brazil confirmed Thursday a case of transmission of the Zika virus through a transfusion of blood from a donor who had been infected. The health department of Campinas said that a hospital patient with gunshot wounds became infected with Zika after multiple blood transfusions in April 2015. Officials said that they determined that one of the people whose donated blood was used in the transfusion had been infected with the mosquito-borne virus that is spreading rapidly through the Americas. The blood center at the University of Campinas said that a second person who donated blood in May developed symptoms and tested positive for Zika, though the recipient of the contaminated blood has not developed symptoms of the virus. The Brazilian Health Ministry said that the first patient died of his wounds and not from the Zika infection. It said it was reinforcing instructions to blood banks that people infected with Zika or dengue not be permitted to donate blood for 30 days after their full recovery from the active stage of infection.
