Rabies Transplanted through Solid Organs
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
An Arkansas man is at the center of a national investigation into the first cases of human rabies passed through solid organ transplantation. The Centers for Disease Control is reporting that kidneys, lungs and a liver from the man were donated to patients in Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama. The Alabama lung patient died on the operating table. The others all died from rabies transplanted into them along with those organs. Donated tissue is screened for many diseases, like H-I-V, but not rabies. That`s a policy the C-D-C is now re-evaluating. Teams from the Arkansas Department of Health are helping the C-D-C track down people who may have come into contact with the Arkansas donor. Rabies transmission through kissing has been documented globally. It has also been transmitted 8 times through cornea transplantation.
