Health officials have confirmed that a Michigan man tragically died after receiving a kidney transplant from a donor who had unknowingly contracted rabies following a skunk scratch.
According to The Guardian, the man underwent the transplant surgery at a hospital in Ohio in December 2024. Within weeks, he began experiencing troubling symptoms — including tremors, urinary incontinence, and confusion — that quickly worsened. Despite hospitalization, his condition deteriorated, and he later died. A postmortem report revealed that the cause of death was rabies, a shocking discovery given that his family stated he had no recent contact with animals.
Investigation Traces Rabies Infection Back to Idaho Donor
After doctors reviewed the transplant records, they discovered that the kidney donor — a man from Idaho — had died from the same rabies strain just weeks earlier. During the Donor Risk Assessment Interview, it was revealed that the man had been scratched by a skunk before his death.
The donor’s family told investigators that he had been protecting a kitten from an aggressive skunk, which scratched his shin in October. Believing the injury to be minor, the donor didn’t seek medical care because he didn’t think the animal had bitten him.
However, several weeks later, he began showing signs of neurological distress, including confusion, hallucinations, and difficulty swallowing and walking. Two days after the onset of those symptoms, he was found unconscious and rushed to a local hospital. Despite resuscitation efforts, he never regained consciousness and was declared brain dead.
Several of his organs were donated following his death — including the kidney that led to the Michigan patient’s fatal infection.
CDC: Rabies Rarely Included in Donor Testing
In a statement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explained that rabies testing is not a standard part of donor screening, as the disease is considered extremely rare in the United States.
The CDC’s report noted that no immediate signs of rabies were detected in the donor during his hospital stay, making it difficult for medical teams to identify the risk before transplantation.
Following the revelation, the CDC and local health officials conducted a full review to identify and contact other patients who received organs or tissue donations from the same donor.
Other Organ Recipients Treated for Possible Exposure
Authorities confirmed that other recipients of the donor’s corneal grafts and tissue transplants were immediately notified and treated. The transplanted corneas were removed, and the recipients received Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) — an emergency rabies treatment — to prevent infection.
Health experts say this case is a rare and tragic occurrence, highlighting the challenges in detecting nontraditional rabies exposures, particularly when the virus enters through minor scratches rather than bites.