A Michigan resident died in January after contracting rabies from a recently transplanted organ, officials confirmed with Becker’s March 27.
The patient underwent an organ transplant at an unnamed Ohio hospital in December, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. The organ donor was not a Michigan or Ohio resident, officials said, adding that there is no threat to the general public.
The Michigan HHS department worked closely with Ohio’s health department and the CDC on the public health investigation. The CDC Rabies Laboratory confirmed rabies as the patient’s cause of death.
Organ donors are typically screened for viruses, but rabies is not usually part of these tests because the infection is rare and test results can take several days, according to NBC News.
In 2013, a Florida resident who received a kidney transplant about a year prior died after contracting rabies through the organ, the outlet reported. Three similar cases occurred in 2004 after receiving organs from an infected donor in Arkansas.
