I can't believe I haven't seen this posted yet. This is a freaking huge deal and most papers/stations haven't done much with it. Just think -- if you can get RABIES from an organ transplant, what the heck else can you get? <b>Rabies Transmission From Organ Transplants</b> The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed the first reported cases of rabies transmission through solid organ transplantation. Confirmation came from laboratory testing of autopsy specimens after the deaths of three persons who had received organ transplants from the same donor. Rabies is an acute, fatal disease that most often results from a bite of a rabid mammal. Rarely, if ever, do non-bite exposures, including scratches, contamination of an open wound, or direct mucus membrane contact with infectious material (such as saliva or neuronal tissue) cause rabies. Although rabies transmission has occurred previously through cornea transplants, this is the first report of rabies transmission via solid organ transplantation. The organ donor, an Arkansas resident, had undergone routine donor eligibility screening and testing. Rabies testing is not part of the routine screening process. Lungs, kidneys, and liver were recovered and later transplanted on May 4 into four recipients, one of whom (the lung transplant patient) died during transplant surgery. No other organs or tissues were recovered from the donor. CDC is working with health officials from Texas, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and other public health partners to evaluate potential contacts of the transplant recipients and the donor to determine who needs shots. Those persons include family members as well as healthcare workers who cared for the organ recipients and donor at the following hospitals: Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama; Christus Saint Michael Healthcare Center, Texarkana, Texas; Wadley Regional Medical Center, Texarkana, Texas; and Good Shepherd Medical Center Longview, Texas. Individuals whose contact is determined to have placed them at elevated risk of exposure to rabies virus will be advised to receive post-exposure treatment as soon as possible. For additional information visit the CDC Web site at www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies.
I guess you can get anything they don't screen for. The chances are extremely unlikely that you would get rabies from an organ transplant. This was on the news pretty heavy here last night, but since it's something of a local story here in Dallas, that's understandable that it'd be bigger news here.
Well at least they know to check for this from now on. We learn from our mistakes, even our most grave ones.
They were talking on the local news like they weren't going to start screening for rabies. The thinking being that the cost and time issues outweigh the slim chances of something like this happening again. Of course, it's difficult to tell what will end up becomming policy this soon after something happens.
What happens to humans when they have rabbies? Why do animals become rabbid and aggresive when they have it?
Yeah, we discussed this in my Human Infectious Diseases class this morning. The donor died of cranial bleeding - which the doctors assumed it was a stroke, therefore they did not seek further investigation. If the guy had shown any other symptoms, then he wouldn't have been a donor at all. Incidentally, he had bat rabies which is apparently the most common form of rabies (at least in TX). The organ donor screening process is much more concerned with transmitting HIV and more obvious human dieseases like that - not fairly asymptomatic cases of rabies. Not that I defend or condone what happened, but I understand how it happened.
ELAINE: I've got such a headache. Oh, that's another symptom! KRAMER: Of what? JERRY: Rabies. KRAMER: Oh that's fatal, you don't want that! (Elaine runs over to Kramer and starts screaming again) ELAINE: I know I don't want it! I don't need you to tell me what I don't want, you stupid hipster dufus! JERRY: Hey, hey, what is this? What's going on here? ELAINE: I'm sorry, Kramer, I'm sorry. KRAMER: No, no, it's all right. I had a friend who had rabies once. (George's eating chips) KRAMER: May I have one of those, madam? GEORGE: Madame? What are you calling me madam for? KRAMER: They're ladies' glasses. (Kramer takes George's glasses and shows him the inside) KRAMER: Now look here, see it's right here: Gloria Vanderbilt Collection. GEORGE: He sold me ladies' glasses! ELAINE: I... I think I'm... I'm having trouble swallowing. I can't... I can't swallow. KRAMER: She's got rabies, just like my friend Bob Sacamano. She's delirious. (Elaine drinks some water and drools) KRAMER: She's foaming at the mouth!