Government health officials announced yesterday that they have discovered the West Nile Virus in blood collected from three donors. Officials with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are now warning that the incidence of West Nile contaminated blood in the United States may be much higher than expected. Currently, plans to change blood donation procedures have not been initiated. Officials, however, say modifications may be made if the virus continues to be found in the nation's donated blood supply.

Last week, the CDC's Fort Collins Laboratory and the Florida Department of Health Laboratory confirmed that three of four persons who received blood from a single recipient were infected with the West Nile virus. The three confirmed recipients all had encephalitis; one has died and the other two are recovering in the hospital.