United States: According to the state health department declaration from Wednesday, rabies infection was transmitted to a transplant patient after a heart donation performed at a Michigan hospital in December.
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According to Lynn Sutfin, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services, “A public health investigation determined they contracted rabies through the transplanted organ,” NBC News reported.
The Ohio hospital conducted the transplant procedure in December, only to see the patient die in January, as per department records. The statement omitted all such details regarding who received the organ transplant and which specific type of organ was transplanted.
The donor who donated the organ was not registered as either a Michigan resident or an Ohio resident.
Sutfin stated that Michigan health officials, along with Ohio department employees and the Centers for Disease Control Prevention, jointly investigated the patient’s fatal condition.
The Rabies Laboratory at the CDC diagnosed the infection.
According to the statement, “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,” NBC News reported.
“Post-exposure preventive care, if appropriate, has been provided,” they added.
The department stated it would not release further information to NBC News.
The agencies responsible for comments, including the Ohio Health Department and CDC, stayed silent when approached for interviews.
The disease spreads from animals to humans through direct contact with their saliva or blood, which comes from bats, raccoons, skunks, and stray dogs.
People may not recognize immediate rabies infection because the early signs mimic flu symptoms, which include headaches followed by fever and nausea.
A Michigan resident has died of rabies after receiving an organ transplant in Ohio, marking the first U.S. case since 2013.
— Informed NJ Nurses (@InformedNJNurse) March 27, 2025
Since 1950, there have only been a handful of confirmed cases worldwide. In the U.S., this is just the fourth documented instance of rabies being… pic.twitter.com/tmxHvOIPSg
When rabies advances in patients, it causes swallowing problems, and they also experience heavy drooling along with hallucinations.
Failure to obtain prompt medical care after being scratched or bitten by an infectious animal will result in death due to rabies.
Data from the CDC indicates that the annual rabies deaths have fallen below 10 since 1960 despite previous numbers of at least 500 mortalities annually before that period.
The United States screens potential organ donors for viral infections as well as bacterial diseases along with other pathogens, yet rabies testing is usually excluded due to slow results and minimal person-to-person occurrence of the infection.