GOOD: F.D.A. Clears Use of New Test to Screen Blood Donations for Zika.

The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that it would allow the use of an experimental test to screen blood donations for contamination with the Zika virus.

The move means that Puerto Rico, which had halted local blood donations and had imported nearly 6,000 units of red blood from the continental United States, will soon be able to resume collecting donations from residents. And it should help blood banks elsewhere in the country avoid similar ordeals.

“The bottom line is we are going to work with blood centers in Puerto Rico to try to help as many as possible make use of the investigational test,” said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the F.D.A.’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

He estimated that the test, manufactured by Roche Molecular Systems, would be ready “within the next week or so.”

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.”

He added that the F.D.A. deserved praise for fast-tracking the test.

I’m going to put a lot more work than usual into mosquito control in my backyard this year.