A new lease on life for a patient turned deadly after a shocking organ transplant gone wrong.
Reports have surfaced that a Michigan patient has died of rabies after receiving an organ transplant.
The patient, who received the transplant at an Ohio hospital in December 2024, died of rabies this past January, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).
“The person was a recent organ transplant recipient, and a public health investigation determined they contracted rabies through the transplanted organ,” the spokesperson said.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has worked closely with the Ohio Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the investigation, according to reports.
“Health officials worked together to ensure that people, including healthcare providers, who were in contact with the Michigan individual were assessed for possible exposure to rabies,” the MDHHS stated.
“Post-exposure preventive care, if appropriate, has been provided.”
According to health officials, the organ donor was not a Michigan or Ohio resident.
However, no additional information has been provided about the resident or the donor at the time of publication.
Typically organs are screened for infectious diseases, cancers, quality and functionality prior to transplant.
But according to health experts, rabies testing is not typically performed.
“There is currently no country or institution that requires the screening of rabies among donors before organ transplantation surgery,” according to information published by the National Institutes of Health.
In 2013, the CDC confirmed the death of four people in Maryland who contracted rabies after receiving organs from the same donor.
In 2004, the agency reported the rabies deaths of three people who received organs from a common infected donor.