Viral Encephalitis Transmitted From Donor to Organ Recipients

摘要

THE ARTICLE BY BURTON ET AL IN THE JUNE ISSUE OF the Archives of Neurology provides detailed information on the neurological aspects of unsuspected rabies virus infection that was transmitted from a donor to 3 solid organ transplant recipients and to the recipient of an iliac artery segment. All 4 recipients developed signs of encephalitis within 30 days of infection characterized by fever, agitated delirium, and seizures; all recipients died within 50 days of transplantation.12 It was not learned until after the death of the 4 recipients that the donor had told his friends that he had been bitten by a bat. The donor was originally diagnosed as having an acute cocaine-induced subarachnoid hemorrhage, and only in retrospect was the diagnosis of rabies virus infection made.