Overview
- The Michigan patient died about six weeks after receiving a left kidney at an Ohio hospital, with rabies virus RNA detected postmortem in saliva, nuchal skin, and brain tissue.
- Investigators concluded a three-step transmission sequence in which a silver-haired bat infected a skunk, the skunk scratched the Idaho donor, and the donor’s kidney infected the recipient.
- The donor had been scratched by a skunk in October 2024 while holding a kitten on his rural property, and initial testing did not detect rabies before organs were recovered.
- Three patients who received the donor’s corneal grafts in California, Idaho, and New Mexico had the grafts removed and received prophylaxis, remained asymptomatic, and a fourth planned corneal transplant was canceled.
- CDC officials characterized the event as the fourth known U.S. instance of transplant-transmitted rabies since 1978 and noted that routine donor screening does not include rabies testing.