CDC Finds Rabies in Donor Organs

Three patients died after receiving organs from a donor infected with rabies, the first time the disease has been spread via transplanted organs, U.S. officials said Thursday.

The victims received organs from an Arkansas man on May 4 in separate operations at hospitals in Texas and Oklahoma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the federal agency responsible for tracking health threats.

A fourth person who received two lungs from the same donor died during the transplant operation in Alabama.

U.S. officials said the infections went undetected because the donor had shown no signs of rabies at the time of his death in Texas from a brain hemorrhage. U.S. hospitals do not routinely screen for rabies before organ transplants.

The CDC said it was working with health officials in the four states to determine whether relatives, healthcare workers and others might require rabies treatment.

Dr. Mitch Cohen, a CDC infectious diseases expert, described the outbreak as “scary” and said it was unclear how many people might have been exposed as a result of the infections. However, he added that there was no reason to suspend organ transplants in the U.S.

“This is extremely rare, so the benefits of receiving organ transplantation far outweigh the risks of any infectious disease acquired through transplantation,” Cohen said.

Rabies is a rare but virulent and incurable disease that is usually transmitted through an animal bite or contact through open wounds with the secretions of infected animals. A handful of cases are reported in the United States in a typical year.

Early treatment consists of a shot of immune plasma followed by five injections of vaccine over 28 days.

Although rabies had not been known to spread through organ transplants, it had been transmitted to a handful of people during cornea transplant operations.