"In this case, in December 2024 the man, a resident of Michigan, received a left kidney from an Idaho-based donor at a hospital in Ohio. The recipient began to feel ill five weeks later. His initial symptoms included weakness, confusion and incontinence. After a week, he was hospitalized with a fever, difficulty swallowing, problems with his nervous system and, crucially, an irrational fear of watera key symptom of rabies in humans. He died 51 days after the transplant, according to the CDC."
"Officials determined that the donor had been infected with the virus by a skunk, which had scratched him and a kitten he had been holding weeks before he was found dead of a presumed cardiac arrest. But later testing revealed that he, too, had died of rabies. The skunk appears to have gotten rabies from a bat."
"The donor's other organs and tissues are not considered a risk to the public, the CDC said: ocular grafts from his corneas either were removed from recipients who went on to show no symptoms or were not implanted. His other organs were not implanted."
A man in Michigan died after receiving a left kidney from an Idaho-based donor in December 2024. Symptoms began five weeks post-transplant, including weakness, confusion, incontinence, fever, difficulty swallowing, neurologic problems and hydrophobia, and death occurred 51 days after transplantation. Investigation traced the donor’s infection to a skunk that had scratched him and a kitten; later testing confirmed the donor died of rabies. The skunk likely acquired rabies from a bat. Corneal grafts were either removed or not implanted and other organs were not implanted, and exposed healthcare contacts were identified for follow-up.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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