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The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday endorsed the first test to screen blood donations for the Zika virus. The screening test still has investigational status, meaning it does not have final approval. But FDA spokeswoman Tara Goodin said the agency has vetted the product and is confident it will work. (Kaplan, 3/30)

Federal health officials are granting use of an experimental test to screen blood donations for Zika virus, an emergency step designed to protect local blood supplies from the mosquito-borne virus. The action means U.S. territories with active Zika infections, primarily Puerto Rico, will be able to resume collecting and screening their own blood. (Perrone, 3/30)

Experts noted that it took almost a year to develop a test to screen blood donations for West Nile virus, and some applauded the rapid progress described Wednesday. “It is amazingly fast,” said Dr. Darrell J. Triulzi, the director of the division of transfusion medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. “This is a testament to the speed at which industry was able to respond to a need.” (Saint Louis, 3/30)

Federal health officials say the mosquitoes that can transmit the Zika virus may live in a broader swath of the U.S. than previously thought — but that doesn't mean they'll cause disease here. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday posted new maps of the estimated range of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, and a related cousin, on its website. Instead of just being in the southern part of the country, the new maps say the range may extend into parts of the Midwest and as far north as parts of New York and Connecticut. (3/30)

The Zika virus can cause extensive brain damage to a fetus, despite normal ultrasound results early in pregnancy, a provocative new study reveals. Researchers conducted ultrasounds of a fetus of a Zika-infected mother at 13, 16, and 17 weeks. Initial results showed no telltale signs of birth defects, such as deformed head size that would indicate microcephaly — a common indicator that a fetus is infected with the virus. However, later ultrasounds revealed other brain abnormalities, specifically affecting the part of the brain dealing with decision making and the senses, such as vision, hearing, touch and taste, according to the study published in The New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday. (Jarrett, 3/30)