A federal policy implemented in 2016 to screen donated blood for Zika virus was not cost-effective, according to a study published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
For the study, researchers created a simulation to assess the cost-effectiveness of Zika blood screenings in all 50 states and Puerto Rico during the policy's first year.
They found the policy would only be cost-effective during Puerto Rico's mosquito season and would never be cost-effective in U.S. states. In addition, researchers discovered the blood screening would only prevent one case of congenital Zika syndrome every 33 years in Puerto Rico and every 176 years in the U.S.