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Although West Nile virus (WNV) is generally transmitted to humans via mosquito bites, cases of transfusion-related WNV (T-RWNV) infection have been reported since 2002. Screening of blood products, introduced in 2003, has detected about 1400 potentially infectious donations, reducing the number of new T-RWNV infections in the U.S. from 23 in 2002 to zero in 2005.
In 2006, the South Dakota Department of Health reported two cases of probable T-RWNV infection stemming from the blood products of a common donor. One patient, an 82-year-old recent kidney-transplant recipient, developed West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND) consisting of fever and mental status deterioration 19 days after transfusion of two units of packed red blood cells. Cerebro…