American Dies of Rabies After Contaminated Kidney Transplant
A recipient triggered an operation Kidney transplant In the United States, he became a medical mystery when he died of rabies in January 2025, just weeks after undergoing surgery at a hospital in Ohio, despite having no documented contact with the disease.
According to the “Science Alert” website, a careful investigation conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed the reason, as the donated kidney of a man from Michigan was infected with the deadly virus, which is only the fourth time that rabies has been transmitted through transplanted organs in the United States since 1978.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says this case highlights the need for stronger guidance for transplant teams when a donor has a history of exposure to animals.
How was the disease transmitted through the transplanted kidney?
Globally, the virus is transmitted mostly through dog bites, but any infected mammal can transmit the disease, but in this case the kidney was transferred from a deceased donor, who died of a heart attack in early December 2024, after suffering cardiac arrest about five weeks after being scratched by a skunk, in late October.
No one suspected he had rabies at the time, and because the man was an organ donor, his heart, lungs, left kidney, and corneas were removed after his death, with the intention of giving them to waiting patients. Kidney transplant.
About five weeks after the kidney transplant, the Michigan patient who received the kidney developed symptoms suggestive of rabies, and doctors sent samples of his saliva, skin and other fluids to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which detected rabies virus RNA in some of the samples.
Because the recipient had no history of exposure to animals, the researchers then went back to the donor, and a stored serum sample from the Idaho man tested negative for rabies antibodies, but an archived biopsy of his kidney showed rabies virus RNA, confirming that the organ was the source of the infection.
The fate of the remaining organs of the donor
The recipient from Michigan died on the seventh day of his hospitalization, but he may have saved other lives. The donor’s heart and lungs were used for training at a research center in Maryland, and posed no risk, but three other patients received corneal grafts from the donor’s corneas.
Doctors immediately removed the transplanted corneas and prescribed patients a highly effective course of post-exposure prophylaxis, or PEP – human rabies antibodies plus a vaccine given before symptoms appear.
Public health officials evaluated 357 potential donor-recipient contact cases, and advised 46 people, including health care workers, community members, and corneal recipients, to receive post-exposure prophylaxis.
Since rabies testing on donor organs is not a routine procedure, and no one raised any red flags, operations were conducted. Organ transplantation As scheduled, it may take weeks or months for rabies symptoms to appear after transmission. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises extra caution with donors who have been exposed to the virus.
“If a potential donor, especially one with severe encephalopathy, has been bitten or scratched by a rabies-susceptible animal within the previous year, transplant teams should consider consulting public health officials to determine rabies risk,” the organization wrote in its report.