With several days to spare, the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center has begun testing all donated blood for the Zika Virus. Thursday the center announced testing began on Monday, ahead of Friday's deadline set by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Chief Executive Officer, Mike Parejko, says the center had just three months to plan, hire new workers, install equipment, and practice new procedures. And it involved nearly every department.
"Some people think it's just the testing laboratory but that's not the case. This took new suppplies, new validations, new standard operating procedures, new staff, hiring new staff so human resources, it took the purchase of new re-agents and new equipment, so it involved finance."
Parejko says the center is now conducting about 750 tests per day for blood donations it receives, plus another 350 more for other centers that could not start testing as quickly.
Each test costs between 6 and 10 dollars, and he's not sure if the center will get any government help paying for all of those tests, plus leasing two huge machines that do all the testing.
From its headquarters in Davenport, the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center provides blood and blood products to a region that stretches from southwest Wisconsin, through eastern Iowa, western and central Illinois, all the way to Saint Louis.
