A rabid skunk scratched an Idaho man, causing an extremely rare fatal chain reaction that claimed two lives – the first bite victim and the transplant recipient, federal officials said.
This is believed to be the fourth “case of transplant-transmitted rabies in the United States since 1978.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) This was stated in a report last week.
“The investigation revealed a likely three-step chain of transmission in which a rabid silverback bat infected a skunk, which infected the donor and led to infection in the kidney recipient,” the CDC said.
A Michigan man last December “received a left kidney transplant from an Idaho donor at an Ohio hospital” and then died about six weeks later, the CDC said.
According to the CDC, rabies virus RNA was detected in samples of saliva, occipital skin and brain tissue from the recipient.
Fresh interviews with the Idaho donor's family revealed “details not included in the DRAI questionnaire,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, citing a so-called “donor risk assessment interview.”
Investigators learned that in late October 2024 in Idaho, “a skunk approached the donor while he was keeping a kitten in an outbuilding on his rural property,” resulting in a scratch on the animal.
The man died about six weeks after becoming “confused, having difficulty swallowing and walking” and “experiencing hallucinations,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.
The Idaho man's corneas were removed and three “patients, one each from California, Idaho and New Mexico, received transplants” last December and January, officials said.
While investigators continued their investigation, the three “cornea recipients underwent prophylactic graft removal” and “the planned transplantation of a fourth cornea graft into a Missouri patient was cancelled,” the CDC said.
These three patients are reported to be asymptomatic.
