Doyle Rice

USA TODAY

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday recommended expanding the screening process for all blood donations in the U.S. as a precaution against contaminating the blood supply with the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

The new recommendation expands the guidance to all U.S. states and territories. Previously, the FDA only advised screening in areas with active Zika cases, such as parts of Florida and throughout Puerto Rico.

“At this time, the recommendation for testing the entire blood supply will help ensure that safe blood is available for all individuals who might need transfusion," said Peter Marks, the director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a statement.

The new order comes in the wake of the first locally acquired Zika cases in the continental U.S. More than 40 people in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties in Florida have been diagnosed with the virus since officials announced its appearance there earlier this month. Previously, all cases within the continental U.S. were travel-related.

Florida Surgeon General Celeste Philip said the state's largest blood collection centers have been testing all donations for Zika since the beginning of August, when health officials confirmed the first locally transmitted case of Zika near downtown Miami. She said expanding that makes sense since the Aedes aegypti mosquito that carries the virus is prevalent throughout most of the southern United States.

"I think there is scientific rationale for why that is important," she said after a meeting of government officials in Miami Beach, the latest area hit by locally-transmitted Zika cases.

The FDA updated its guidance due to the potential serious health consequences of Zika to pregnant women and children born to women exposed to the virus during pregnancy. The Zika virus is transmitted primarily by the Aedes mosquito but can also be spread by sexual contact. Although most people infected with the virus never develop symptoms, an infection during pregnancy can cause serious birth defects and is associated with other adverse pregnancy outcomes, the FDA warns.

Around 2,200 Zika cases have been reported in the continental U.S. and more than 13,000 in Puerto Rico, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of the cases within the continental U.S. involved individuals who contracted the virus while traveling in another country, while most of the Puerto Rico cases were locally acquired.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday he would travel to Washington when Congress reconvenes next month to urge legislators to pass emergency Zika funding for his state and others that will soon be affected by the virus. He said his requests for assistance — from Zika tests kits from the CDC to research money to find a vaccine — have not been met and he worries that the federal government hasn't done enough to corral the fast-spreading virus.

"Congress went on recess," he said. "So I'd say that no, the federal government has not been a good partner."

Contributing: Alan Gomez in Miami