Rabid organ transplant kills Maryland man

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

A man in the US state of Maryland has died of rabies, which he contracted from an infected kidney transplant more than a year ago, health officials say.
...
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) say doctors did not suspect rabies as the cause of death in the donor and did not test for it.
...
The donor died of raccoon rabies in Florida in 2011 after moving there from North Carolina.

The recipients of the donor's heart, liver and other kidney are receiving anti-rabies vaccines, the CDC said in a news release on Friday. They live in Illinois, Georgia and Florida.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21807466

[sangsaran]

1. "Did not suspect"?

Why do I get the feeling they try to save money by cutting corners on tests?

On organ donors?

[Ms. Toad]

4. Not at all.

See my reply to the next post.

[tammywammy]

5. It can take up to two days for a rabies test.

By then the organs would be useless. It's not routinely tested for since rabies only kills 1-2 people/year. Also the donor hadn't reported being bitten by an animal either.

[Raine1967]

2. This is really tragic.

Typically no more than three cases of rabies are diagnosed in the US yearly.

The donor died of raccoon rabies in Florida in 2011 after moving there from North Carolina.

I have a question, did they donate the organs before they found out the cause of death?

IT is a very sad story, I hope it is one that can be prevented from happening in the future. People die, they donate organs -- but maybe we should make sure we know what the cause of death is before organs are donated.

[Ms. Toad]

3. Organ procurement is a pretty complex process -

If you're intensely curious - here are the guidelines: http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/ContentDocuments/Evaluation_Plan.pdf

The time window for recovering organs is very small, so cause of death can't always be determined within that window.

I don't know the facts in this case (and couldn't easily find references in the OPTN document for unknown case of death), but I would not be surprised to learn that the organs were available on an expanded criteria. What that means is that they know the organ is less than ideal, and is offered only to in limited circumstances, with full informed consent, to individuals who who are otherwise likely to die before they are at the top of the list for the organ they need. A much older donor (for some organs), a donor with hepatitis (offered to an individual who also has hepatitis) and so on. It would seem to me death following an unidentified illness ought to fall in this category

There are tons of tests done to pick up on things that might be signs there is something wrong - for example elevated liver enzymes even in the absence of any known liver disease is a red flag. Medical history is reviewed, and family members interviewed when those are available. Then even once they make a preliminary decision (and the recipient is in the hospital being prepped for a transplant), they still carry out last minute tests. I have a friend who has made the trip to the hospital twice for a transplant and is still waiting - both times last minute tests revealed the liver wasn't in quite as good a shape as they thought it was.

[union_maid]

6. That happened on Scrubs

Not to make light of a tragic situation, but it was the subject of an episode of the sitcom. Not a funny episode, but I guess it must have happened before. Of course, on the show the recipients all died more or less right away.

[TheDebbieDee]

8. The recipients had to die fairly quickly. SCRUBS was only a 30-minute show.

I'm sure that in real time it may have taken a season or two to tell the entire rabid organ donor tales.

Gosh bless ALL donors and people needing transplants.

[Kali]

7. bizarre

long incubation period, too
I wonder if anti-rejection meds kept it in check somehow?

[In_The_Wind]

9. I thought test were done on the organ donor before harvesting.

[McCamy Taylor]

10. Did the donor die of rabies or did he have rabies when he died of some other cause?

Usually if a person dies of an infection, they don't donate organs. However, a person infected with rabies will have no symptoms for months to a year---in which time they could die of a car wreck.

I can not imagine any presentation of rabies that would not look like an infection. Anyone have a link to the donor's story?

[LiberalEsto]

11. From what I've read, the donor's cause of death was encephalitis

which just means inflammation of the brain. It should have been looked into further, as to the cause of the inflammation.

[Trascoli]

12. you can live for years with rabies

and not see any side effects. sad

[czarinaanya]

15. wrong

Rabies has a "incubation period" of about 30 days normally, sometimes 2-3 months, RARELY up to one year.
after the incubation period is over, symptoms appear, and death follows within a few weeks.

[Stargazer09]

13. Sometimes...

Apparently, a person who dies of a suspected drug overdose is still considered a viable candidate for organ donation, and late-stage rabies can mimic drug overdose symptoms.

Animal Planet's third season of Monsters Inside Me featured three people who received organs from a deceased drug user; all three died of rabies, and it turns out that the donor had a nest of diseased bats in his room.

Scary stuff, but unfortunately, they can't test for everything.

[czarinaanya]

14. Animal Planet episode

PLEASE can you tell me what episode that was??. I remember watching it.. I remember feeling like dr House when I said "I think those symptoms sound alot like rabies." and then the Drs in real life couldn't figure it out until after the transplant recipients died, and the show revealed it was rabies.

I know two other episodes of "monsters inside me" deal with Rabies, (including a season 3 episode, but that was a teen girl died and nothing about organ transplant.) I can NOT find the episode you're talking about nd I've scoured the description of every epidote of "monsters inside me" ever produced...

it's driving me crazy..

[canetoad]

17. Are you expecting a response?

This thread is over seven years old.

[Stargazer09]

18. I'm still here

I’ll look for the episode in question.

[Stargazer09]

19. I will do my best to find it

It may take some time, but I’ll find it.