Michigan man dies after contracting rabies from transplanted kidney

A Michigan man has died after developing rabies transmitted through a donated kidney, in what US health officials have described as an exceptionally rare case.

According to a recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, the recipient began showing neurological symptoms about five weeks after receiving the transplant in Ohio, including tremors, weakness, confusion and incontinence, before being hospitalised with advanced rabies signs such as difficulty swallowing and hydrophobia.

Posthumous testing confirmed rabies RNA in his saliva, skin and brain tissue, prompting investigators to trace the infection to the organ donor.

Authorities later discovered the donor had been scratched by a skunk in Idaho roughly five weeks before his death but did not seek medical attention and showed no classic rabies symptoms before being taken off life support following a presumed cardiac arrest.

Rabies testing is not routinely performed during organ donor screening due to the disease’s rarity, with standard checks focusing on more common infections. Health experts say the case highlights an extraordinary and unusual transmission pathway rather than a broader risk to transplant safety.

Image credit: Dan Meyers