A Michigan man died of rabies after receiving a kidney transplant from an Idaho man who had been scratched by a rabid skunk, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. “This is an exceptionally rare event,” said Dr. Lara Danziger-Isakov, noting that organ donations are not routinely tested for rabies due to its rarity and complex diagnostics. The donor’s corneas were also transplanted in three other patients, one of whom tested positive for rabies but remained symptom-free.
The donor first developed rabies symptoms five weeks after the skunk scratch and died shortly after collapsing. The kidney recipient exhibited tremors, confusion, and hydrophobia about five weeks post-transplant and died a week later. Biopsies of the donor’s unused kidney later confirmed rabies consistent with bat strains. Since 1978, four organ donors in the U.S. have transmitted rabies to 13 recipients, resulting in seven deaths among those untreated.