Blood donations are needed now to help prepare South Texas hospitals for Hurricane Harvey, at a time when our community already is facing serious blood shortages – less than a day’s supply is available.

Efforts are being made to build the blood supply at all trauma centers, and local hospitals are reporting an influx of patients from the Corpus Christi area as well.

The added demand has put a strain on the supply of all blood types, but especially O negative and O positive. Having enough blood on the shelves can mean the difference between life and death for car accident victims, cancer patients and others.

As a safety measure for our employees and donors, the Victoria donor room has been closed until Monday, affecting the current blood supply. We are asking all donors who can safely travel to a donor room in San Antonio or New Braunfels to please come in.

By Meaghan Flores

There is a possibility that the Zika virus could be more widespread in Africa than previously thought, a major concern to researchers around the world because of the potential for another outbreak.

The 2015 Zika outbreak emerged in Brazil, but knowledge of the virus dates back the 1940s, when it was first discovered in Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria. Since then the disease has spread across the world. By February 2016, the virus had spread rapidly across the Americas, with more than 20 countries reporting local transmission.

Zika has proven to be more complex than originally thought, as some of the trends and abnormalities seen in the outbreak of the virus in the Americas have not been the same as in Africa. This could be because there are two separate linkages of the virus, one originating in Africa and the other in Asia, or because health care systems in Africa are poor and aren’t detecting the virus well.