A Michigan resident who received a transplant in December died after having been infected with rabies from the new organ, US health authorities have said.
The patient received the transplant in Ohio in December, then died in January. The statement did not include information about identity of the recipient or the type of organ that was transplanted.
The Michigan and Ohio Health departments had collaborated with the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on the investigation, with the CDC’s Rabies Laboratory confirming the diagnosis.
The department declined to provide NBC News with additional information.
Potential organ donors in the United States are screened for viruses, bacteria and other infections; however, rabies is not usually among those tests, in part because the test for it takes too long, and because the infection is so rare in people.
A patient who received a kidney transplant in 2013 similarly died after having contracted rabies through the organ. The donor was found to have died of rabies in Florida, but the cause of death was discovered only after an investigation into the recipient’s death. Three other patients also received organs from the donor.
In 2004, three transplant recipients died of rabies after receiving organs from an infected donor in Arkansas.
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