Kidney transplant recipient dies of rabies after donor scratched by skunk: CDC

A tragic sequence of occasions led to a deadly case of transplant-related rabies earlier this yr.

Well being officers introduced Thursday that an organ recipient who underwent transplant surgery in Ohio died of rabies in February. Additional investigation revealed that the donor had change into contaminated with the deadly virus after saving a kitten from a skunk. 

The unnamed affected person, from Michigan, obtained the donor’s kidney in December 2024, and later developed extreme signs that prompted hospitalization and “invasive” procedures, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) mentioned.

He reportedly skilled fever, tremors, issue swallowing and worry of water and died 51 days after the transplant.

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An Idaho man reportedly died from rabies after getting scratched by a skunk. (iStock)

The CDC mentioned the donor, whose donated tissue went to a few different recipients, was contaminated with the silver-haired bat variant of rabies, suggesting the skunk had been contaminated by a bat.

Data revealed that the organ donor, from Idaho, was scratched on the shin whereas warding off a skunk that displayed “predatory aggression” six weeks earlier than his loss of life.  

“In late October 2024, a skunk approached the donor as he held a kitten in an outbuilding on his rural property,” the CDC mentioned. “Throughout an encounter that rendered the skunk unconscious, the donor sustained a shin scratch that bled, however he didn’t suppose he had been bitten. In keeping with the household, the donor attributed the skunk’s habits to predatory aggression towards the kitten.”

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A donor recipient reportedly died a number of weeks after a transplant operation in Ohio. (iStock)

Within the following 5 weeks, the donor started experiencing hallucinations, hassle swallowing, issue strolling and a stiff neck, the company mentioned. 

Two days later, he was found unresponsive at dwelling after a suspected coronary heart assault, in line with well being officers. He was reportedly revived at a hospital however was declared brain-dead and faraway from life help.  

The CDC mentioned his organs have been donated after the household documented the skunk encounter in a donor threat evaluation. Nevertheless, well being officers famous that the shape didn’t display screen for rabies, citing its “rarity in people.”

“In the USA, potential donors’ members of the family typically present details about a donor’s infectious illness threat components, together with animal exposures,” the CDC mentioned. “Rabies is excluded from routine donor pathogen testing due to its rarity in people within the United States and the complexity of diagnostic testing. On this case, hospital workers members who handled the donor have been initially unaware of the skunk scratch and attributed his pre-admission indicators and signs to power comorbidities.”

Well being officers added that three different sufferers obtained corneal tissue from the identical contaminated donor. All of them underwent graft removing, obtained rabies therapy and remained asymptomatic, the CDC reported.

Well being officers additionally reached out to 370 individuals who might have been involved with the donor, in line with the company. Forty-six of them have been advisable to bear rabies procedures. 

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A Michigan man was scratched by a skunk whereas saving a kitten on his rural property. (Peter Bischoff)

Well being officers mentioned the kidney recipient’s loss of life marks the fourth documented case of rabies transmission via an organ transplant within the U.S. since 1978, emphasizing that the danger of such infections stays extraordinarily low.

Transplant groups at the moment are suggested to seek the advice of public well being officers if a possible donor has latest bites or scratches from rabies-susceptible animals, particularly if the donor has had unexplained neurological signs.

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Nevertheless, “no commonplace steering presently exists for addressing reported donor animal exposures by transplant groups,” the CDC mentioned. 

About 1.4 million People obtain look after attainable rabies publicity yearly, and fewer than 10 die from the illness as a consequence of efficient prevention efforts, in line with the company.

Fox Information Digital reached out to the CDC for extra info.