Rabies Claims Fourth Transplant Patient
Jeanine Stank
Psychology
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RABIES: An acute viral disease of the nervous system of warm-blooded animals (usually by the bite of a rabid animal); rabies is fatal if left untreated. |
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When people hear that someone has rabies they most often think of that person being bitten by an animal, but now they need to also think about rabies being transmitted through transplants. Rabies is the oldest infection in human history, and we have never had a problem before now. The first report of rabies transmitted through organ transplant was reported in July of 2004, as a result 4 people have died (The Atlantic Journal-Constitution). Three from rabies and the other one from complications during surgery, but did receive a vessel from the rabies infected donor. The recipients were from Texas, Mesquite, Alabama and Oklahoma (The Dallas Morning News). Pam Silvestri of the Transplant Alliance has stated that all the mans tissues had been accounted for and destroyed.
Rabies is a deathly virus if not taken care of immediately. Out of the approximate 25,000 organ transplants that take place a year, this is the first report ever of the rabies virus being transmitted (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution). As of now, there is no test for the rabies virus in transplant donors because it's rare. The issue at hand is one of logic and ethics, it's not a technical issue according to Dr. Rupprecht of the U.S. Center for Disease Control. A test could be done for rabies a few hours before hand, but you would need logic for the test to be done on short notice everyday. Eventually the decision will be left in the hands of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, who's job it is to oversee the organ donation transplant policy as to whether we test for rabies in the future (The Dallas Morning News). They may end up changing the questions asked to the donor's family, to give a more in depth description of any diseases, virus' and such that they may have come in contact with. This had been done after a few instances of West Nile being transmitted. The Center for Disease Control was sending a team to Baylor University Medical Center in Texas to start an investigation of the four deaths (The Dallas Morning News). They are offering the rabies vaccine to any persons who came in contact with the fourth patient, they've had about 50-100 people show up already.
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LINKS:
ABCNEWS.com : Fourth Transplant Patient Dies of Rabies
Q&A: Rabies in Transplant Recipients: General Questions | CDC Rabies
eMedicine - Rabies : Article Excerpt by: John Bertolini, MD