Kidney transplant recipient dies of rabies after donor scratched by skunk: CDC

A series of tragic events led to a fatal case of organ transplant-related rabies earlier this year.

An organ recipient who underwent organ transplant surgery in Ohio died of rabies in February, health officials announced Thursday. Further investigation revealed that the donor contracted the deadly virus after saving a kitten from a skunk.

The unnamed patient from Michigan received a donor kidney in December 2024 and later developed severe symptoms that required hospitalization and “invasive” procedures, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

It was reported that he had fever, chills, difficulty swallowing and fear of water, and died 51 days after the transplant.

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The donor, whose donated tissue was sent to three other recipients, was infected with the silver-haired bat variant of rabies, the CDC said; This suggests that the skunk was infected by a bat.

An Idaho organ donor was scratched on his shin while fending off a skunk that was displaying “predatory aggression” six weeks before his death, records revealed.

“In late October 2024, a skunk approached the donor who was keeping a kitten in an outbuilding on his rural property,” the CDC said. “During an encounter that rendered the skunk unconscious, the donor suffered a bleeding shin scrape, but did not think he had been bitten. According to the family, the donor attributed the skunk’s behavior to predatory aggression toward the kitten.”

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The donor recipient reportedly died a few weeks after a transplant operation in Ohio. (iStock)

Over the next five weeks, the donor began experiencing hallucinations, difficulty swallowing, difficulty walking and neck stiffness, the agency said.

Two days later, he was found unresponsive at home following a suspected heart attack, according to health officials. He was reportedly resuscitated at a hospital, but was declared brain dead and removed from life support.

His organs were donated after the family documented their encounter with the skunk in a donor risk assessment, the CDC said. However, health officials noted that the form does not screen for rabies because it is “rare in humans.”

“In the United States, family members of potential donors often provide information about the donor’s infectious disease risk factors, including exposure to animals,” the CDC said. “Rabies has been excluded from routine donor pathogen testing due to its rarity in humans in the United States and the complexity of diagnostic testing. In this case, hospital staff treating the donor were initially unaware of skunk scratch and attributed her preadmission signs and symptoms to chronic comorbidities.”

Three other patients also received corneal tissue from the same infected donor, health officials added. They all received grafts, were treated for rabies, and remained asymptomatic, the CDC reported.

According to the agency, health officials also reached 370 people who may have been in contact with the donor. Rabies surgery was recommended for 46 of them.

ORGAN TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT DIED OF RABIES AFTER SURGERY

A Michigan man was scratched by a skunk while rescuing a kitten on his rural property. (Peter Bischoff)

The death of the kidney recipient was the fourth documented case of rabies transmission through organ transplantation in the United States since 1978, health officials said, emphasizing that the risk of such infection remains extremely low.

Transplant teams are now advised to consult public health authorities if a potential donor has recent bites or scratches from rabies-susceptible animals, especially if the donor has unexplained neurological symptoms.

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However, the CDC said “no standard guidance currently exists for handling donor animal exposures reported by transplant teams.”

About 1.4 million Americans are treated annually for possible exposure to rabies, and fewer than 10 people die from the disease due to effective prevention efforts, according to the agency.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the CDC for more information.