US man dies after rabies-infected kidney traced to organ donor’s skunk scratch

An American man has died after being donated a rabies-infected kidney. Photo/ Rebecca S. Gratz, The Washington Post via Getty Images

A Michigan man has died after receiving a kidney from a donor who had been infected with rabies by a skunk scratch.

The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report last week following an inquiry into the man’s death of rabies, confirming he had caught the disease from a donated kidney, according to USA Today.

Five weeks after undergoing the transplant in Ohio late last year, the organ recipient began suffering from tremors, low extremity weakness, confusion and urinary incontinence.

He was hospitalised in January with advanced rabies symptoms such as difficulty swallowing and hydrophobia, tipping doctors off to the possible diagnosis following his death.

Biopsy results soon identified the presence of rabies RNA in the man’s saliva, skin and brain matter, leading to further testing on the donated kidney tissue.

A CDC spokesperson said health authorities had not been aware that the donor was infected with the disease until after the man’s death.

“Once doctors believed the recipient could have rabies, public health officials learned the organ donor was exposed to a wild animal in Idaho five weeks before death.

“The donor did not seek medical care at that time, later died suddenly without traditional rabies symptoms, and public health officials were not notified.”

In December 2024, the donor was taken off life support after initially suffering a “presumed cardiac arrest”.

He is believed to have contracted the disease five weeks beforehand during an interaction with a skunk at a property in Idaho.

“During an encounter that rendered the skunk unconscious, the donor sustained a shin scratch that bled, but he did not think he had been bitten. According to the family, the donor attributed the skunk’s behaviour to predatory aggression toward the kitten,” the report stated.

Rabies screenings are not routinely included in donor organ screenings, which typically test for less rare infections like HIV, hepatitis and syphilis, People reported.

The director of immunocompromised host infectious diseases at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital told the New York Times the incident “is an exceptionally rare event”.