Patient dies from rabies after contracting disease from organ transplant

A patient has died of rabies in what is being classed as the first case in Michigan in 16 years after contracting the virus through an organ transplant.

The Michigan resident received an organ transplant in Ohio in December 2024, but tragically passed away the following month in January this year, health officials have confirmed.

While the organ donor was reportedly not a resident of Michigan or Ohio, the patient was in the care of Lucas County when they received the transplanted organ.

Since the patient, who has not been publicly identified by officials, was a resident of Michigan, the authorities are counting it as a Michigan case of human rabies as opposed to an Ohio one.

Lucas County and its county seat of Toledo sits just south of the Michigan-Ohio state line.

The patient has not been named by the authorities (Getty Images)

A joint public health investigation between the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) was subsequently launched to determine the cause of death and any threat to the wider public.

On Wednesday (March 26), the agencies confirmed the patient died of rabies, as per CBS News.

MDHHS Spokesperson Lynn Sutfin said in a statement: "The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services worked closely with the Ohio Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the investigation. The CDC Rabies Laboratory made the rabies confirmation," reports WXYZ.

Doctors and other health professionals that may have come into contact with the patient are also being monitored.

Sutfin continued: "Health officials worked together to ensure that people, including health care providers, who were in contact with the Michigan individual were assessed for possible exposure to rabies.

"Post exposure preventive care, if appropriate, has been provided."

The Michigan agency added: "A public health investigation determined they contracted rabies through the transplanted organ."

The Centers for Disease Control says it is the first human case of rabies in the state since 2009 (Alyssa Pointer for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) added that it stands as Michigan's first human case of rabies in more than 16 years, since 2009.

A further report by the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department said it does not believe there is any further risk to the general public.

"A multi-state public health investigation was conducted to determine the risk of exposure to the recipient and found no risk to the general public," it read.

Nationwide, fewer than 10 people in the US die of rabies every year, which is spread to humans and animals through bites or scratches from an infected animal.

Although rabid dogs are rare in the states, the CDC states three out of four Americans live in a community where wild animals, like bats, raccoons, skunks and foxes, carry the deadly virus, and around 60,000 residents a year require medical attention after a potential brush with the virus.

Travelling abroad to continents like Africa, Asia and some areas of Central and South America, where rabies in dogs stands as a 'major problem', is considered a bigger risk, the CDC continues.

While the virus is deadly, it is also preventable and early medical intervention is almost 100 percent effective if administered quickly. Treatment includes wound care, a dose of human rabies immune globulin (HRIG) and a series of four or five rabies vaccines.