This undated electron microscope picture supplied by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention exhibits rabies virions, darkish and bullet-shaped, inside an contaminated tissue pattern. Credit score: F. A. Murphy/CDC by way of AP, File
A Michigan resident died earlier this yr after contracting rabies from an organ transplant, well being officers stated.
The affected person had the organ transplanted at a hospital in Ohio in December and died in January, Michigan Division of Well being and Human Providers spokesperson Lynn Sutfin stated.
A subsequent investigation that additionally concerned the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention and the Ohio Division of Well being decided the affected person obtained rabies from the donated organ. Sutfin didn’t specify which organ was transplanted.
Rabies is a lethal viral illness that may unfold to people by means of contact with saliva or blood from contaminated animals. As rabies progresses, it worsens in severity from flu-like signs to hallucinations and issue swallowing. By the point signs seem, the sickness is sort of at all times deadly.
In keeping with the CDC, fewer than 10 individuals die yearly from rabies within the U.S. And it occurring on account of organ transplants could be very uncommon, however not unparalleled; in 2013, a affected person who obtained a kidney transplant died from rabies.
The screening course of for potential organ donors within the U.S. contains questions on adjustments in donors’ psychological states and testing for viruses and infections.
Sutfin careworn there isn’t a menace to most people.
“Health officials worked together to ensure that people, including health care providers, who were in contact with the Michigan individual were assessed for possible exposure to rabies,” she stated, including that post-exposure care was supplied the place mandatory.
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