--- title: Zika: Red Cross Says Wait to Donate Blood After Travel description: The precaution will be in place even though risk of infection is low canonical: https://time.com/4206402/zika-virus-red-cross-blood-donations/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-03T18:17:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:43:43.675Z article:section: Health og:title: Red Cross Asks Americans Who Visit Zika Areas to Wait to Donate Blood og:description: The precaution will be in place even though risk of infection is low og:url: https://time.com/4206402/zika-virus-red-cross-blood-donations/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6cf51118f7587af8/69887bff196cf4cbf603a2bc/mosquito2.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 139289970 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Red Cross Asks Americans Who Visit Zika Areas to Wait to Donate Blood twitter:description: The precaution will be in place even though risk of infection is low twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6cf51118f7587af8/69887bff196cf4cbf603a2bc/mosquito2.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Red Cross Asks Americans Who Visit Zika Areas to Wait 28 Days to Donate Blood by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Feb 3, 2016 6:17 PM UTC  Aedes aegypti Aedes aegyptiJoao Paulo Burini—Flickr RF/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Feb 3, 2016 6:17 PM UTC The American Red Cross has asked blood donors to wait [28 days](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-zika-redcross-idUSKCN0VC035) after returning from regions affected by Zika before donating. Though the organization called the risk of transmission extremely low, the group urged caution on those who have recently visited Central and South America, the Caribbean and Mexico, Reuters reports. If donors do give blood and subsequently show symptoms of the mosquito-borne virus, the Red Cross asks to be notified in order to quarantine possibly affected donations. The World Health Organization declared the birth defects linked to Zika an [international public health emergency](http://time.com/4202499/who-zika-public-health-emergency/) on Monday after reports of the virus spreading throughout the Americas, corresponding with a spike in the birth defect microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-zika-redcross-idUSKCN0VC035)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4206402/zika-virus-red-cross-blood-donations/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4206402/zika-virus-red-cross-blood-donations/"},"headline":"Red Cross Asks Americans Who Visit Zika Areas to Wait 28 Days to Donate Blood","datePublished":"2016-02-03T18:17:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:43:43.675Z","description":"The precaution will be in place even though risk of infection is low","url":"https://time.com/4206402/zika-virus-red-cross-blood-donations/","keywords":["Zika"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6cf51118f7587af8/69887bff196cf4cbf603a2bc/mosquito2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6cf51118f7587af8/69887bff196cf4cbf603a2bc/mosquito2.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"139289970","caption":"mosquito","creditText":"Joao Paulo Burini—Flickr RF/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/zika/","name":"Zika"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4206402/zika-virus-red-cross-blood-donations/","name":"Red Cross Asks Americans Who Visit Zika Areas to Wait 28 Days to Donate Blood"}}]}] ```