Due to the rapid spread of the Zika virus, places where the virus is active have been forced to halt blood donations for fear of spreading the virus through infected blood. But hope is on the horizon. A new test that can screen blood donations for the Zika virus has been endorsed by the Food and Drug Administration. The new test isn't quite approved yet, as it is still in the investigative stage. However, due to the public health emergency, the FDA has already announced that they are confident it will work, and decided to let the news of it get out a little early. The Zika virus has caused some problems for blood banks and organizations like the Red Cross. This is largely due to the fact that many people who are infected with the virus show no symptoms whatsoever. This has meant that places where the virus is active such as Puerto Rico have been forced to halt collection of blood donations. This new test will be able to fix all of that. The screening of donated blood with the test will help maintain the safety of the blood supply. After all of the already donated blood in infected areas has been screened, they can resume collecting blood donations. This will also help countries that may be infected minimize the disruption to their blood supply. Blood banks and organizations like the Red Cross will be able to continue collecting blood, using the investigational screening test to weed out any infected batches. Did you know that places like Puerto Rico had been forced to stop collecting blood donations? What kind of affect could this have on the population and healthcare? How significant is the development of this new test?