FCOL! This is so creepy it sounds like a Michael Palmer plot line for one of his medical thrillers, but that's fiction. Unfortunately, what reads above is a real spine chiller, sure made me have one of those crazy inside-out shivers. GACK!
]]>http://cbs11tv.com/localnews/local_story_183182625.html
Three people died of rabies after receiving organ
transplants at Baylor University Medical Center in what government officials are calling the first documented cases of the disease being spread through organ donation.
An Arkansas man's lungs, liver and kidneys were donated to four patients in Dallas and Alabama after he died in Texarkana, Texas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
The man, who died on May 3 of a brain hemorrhage, had not shown symptoms of rabies, said Dr. Mitchell Cohen, a CDC infectious disease expert.
Three of the transplant recipients, including two Texans who received his kidneys and an Oklahoman who received his liver, died of rabies after suffering from lethargy and neurologic and respiratory problems. The fourth died in Alabama from complications during surgery.
None of the people who died have been identified.
"We are learning as we go -- this has never happened before. Human rabies is extremely rare," Cohen said.
The three patients received organ transplants at Baylor on May 4, the hospital said in a statement. They recovered and were discharged in good condition. All three fell ill later that month and died.
The hospital has been investigating the cause of the deaths since they occurred and learned on Wednesday that all three had rabies.
The man died at Christus St. Michael Health System in Texarkana five days after he came to the emergency room complaining of nausea and vomiting, hospital spokeswoman Francine Francis said. After his death, the man underwent routine donor eligibility screening and testing, but rabies testing is not part of the routine screening process, the CDC said.
"This is a very rare case. It's just one of those bizarre and unfortunate situations," Francis said.
The CDC and the Texas Department of Health are working with officials from Baylor, Christus St. Michael, Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas and Good Shepherd Medical Center in Longview to determine whether anyone who treated the patients may need to receive rabies shots.