Overview
- The patient received a left kidney in December 2024 at a Lucas County, Ohio hospital and died in January after developing neurologic symptoms, with postmortem testing detecting rabies virus RNA.
- Investigators linked the infection to an Idaho donor who had been scratched by a skunk in October 2024, and whose initial laboratory testing did not detect rabies.
- The CDC identifies this as the fourth reported U.S. case of transplant-related rabies since 1978, and Michigan’s first human rabies case since 2009 because the recipient was a state resident.
- Both corneas were implanted in patients in California, Idaho and New Mexico, the grafts were removed, recipients received post-exposure prophylaxis, and all remain asymptomatic.
- The donor’s heart and lungs were used for medical training in Maryland, and the CDC urges added review of donors with animal bites or scratches within the prior year due to the lack of specific guidance.