Posted on 05/23/2005 5:24:48 PM PDT by Cagey
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Three people have died after receiving organ transplants that were infected with a rodent virus, the state Health Department said Monday.
Two people from Massachusetts and one from Rhode Island died, a few weeks after receiving the transplants on April 10 and April 11, of the viral infection LCMV, which is associated with exposure to rodent waste, said David Gifford, director of health for the state department of health.
He said it's only the second time known that LCMV has been transmitted through an organ transplant.
The transplants involved tissue from a lung, kidney and liver, he said.
The source of the infection was traced back to a donor from Rhode Island, who died of unrelated causes, he said. A hamster at the donor's residence tested positive for LCMV.
The Petsmart in Warwick, where the donor had bought the hamster, has removed mice and hamsters from sale, and given import and sales records to the Department of Environmental Management, Gifford said.
"It's a very unfortunate situation, and we're working very closely with the Health Department and the CDC to do whatever we can to help them with their investigation," said Jennifer Pflugfelder, spokeswoman for Petsmart, Inc.
LCMV is commonly found in house mice, but usually only produces flu-like symptoms in humans. In this case, however, the victms received very large doses of immunosuppresant medication that allowed the virus to grow and multiply, Gifford said.
Gifford would not identify the victims or the donor, and would not say how old they were, saying that information was confidential.
Ping.
Wasn't it rabies a few weeks ago, in transplants?
Maybe religions that don't allow transplants/blood transfusions aren't that out there after all. (And I have immediate family that has benefitted from a transplant.)
They lost some transplant recipients to rabies last year. Most of the recipients were in Dallas, but one was in another state.
It's been almost a year now on the rabies. Most of the victims were are Baylor in Dallas.
Rodent Virus -is that some kind of DemoRat disease?
When you think of all that can be transmitted by blood, it makes me sure that I don't want it or any transplants.
But at my age, I don't want a lot of the new fangled ideas anyway.......LOL
I generally agree, but sometimes it beats the alternative.
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