Rabid organ transplant kills Maryland man

[bononos]

OK I admit I'm not a doctor, but wouldn't you test an organ for practically EVERYTHING before giving it to someone else?

I don't think it weighs heavily on the ghouls who grab diseased bodyparts. Its a relatively unregulated trade and the industry wants to keep it that way.

 

[lxskllr]

I think there's been a case report of someone incubating rabies for several decades, but I thought that nerves were the only reservoir in the body.

Lovely. I got bitten by a cat a couple years ago that I was trying to remove from a friend's basement. I assumed it was because she was pregnant, but it was probably rabid. Well, that explains my posts. NOT MT FAULT!

 

[Mixolydian]

Lovely. I got bitten by a cat a couple years ago that I was trying to remove from a friend's basement. I assumed it was because she was pregnant, but it was probably rabid. Well, that explains my posts. NOT MT FAULT!

Dibs on your stuff if you die.

 

[Fritzo]

me neither.

I'm not a Doctor, but I play one on ATOT.

 

[CottonRabbit]

~10,000 kidney transplants from deceased donors are done each year in the US. There are less than a handful of cases of rabies each year.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Lovely. I got bitten by a cat a couple years ago that I was trying to remove from a friend's basement. I assumed it was because she was pregnant, but it was probably rabid. Well, that explains my posts. NOT MT FAULT!

You're probably alright. Most rabies cases have an incubation of a few weeks to months.

It's interesting the types of diseases that cats transmit though.

 

[Zorkorist]

Cat Flu. Coming to a city near you.

-John

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Cat Flu. Coming to a city near you.

-John

Well, I was thinking more Cat Scratch fever and toxoplasmosis, but sure. Yeah. Cat flu. Whatever that is.

 

[ichy]

I don't think it weighs heavily on the ghouls who grab diseased bodyparts. Its a relatively unregulated trade and the industry wants to keep it that way.

I hope that someday you need an organ transplant. Idiot.

 

[ichy]

~10,000 kidney transplants from deceased donors are done each year in the US. There are less than a handful of cases of rabies each year.

I was going to say, rabies in humans is so incredibly rare in the US that the delay that would come with testing organs would probably do more harm than good. When you've got a potential organ donor it's a use it or lose it situation.

 

[Mixolydian]

I'm not a Doctor, but I play one on ATOT.

Don't we all? :whiste:

 

[shortylickens]

On an unrelated topic I think if you get a nasty disease you should take yourself off the donor list. Thats just common courtesy.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

On an unrelated topic I think if you get a nasty disease you should take yourself off the donor list. Thats just common courtesy.

Even if you don't know that you got a nasty disease? Like CJD, or, as is the case with a lot of people who got transfusions in the 80s and 90s, HCV?

 

[shortylickens]

Even if you don't know that you got a nasty disease? Like CJD, or, as is the case with a lot of people who got transfusions in the 80s and 90s, HCV?

If you get bit you need to a see a doctor to check for rabies. If you go to the hospital they should do that anyways.

This situation was a colossal failure on the part of many people.

 

[JoeyM]

How can they treat the other organ recipients for rabies? Aren't they immunosuppressed to keep them from rejecting the organ? Will vaccinations and a single dose of antibodies (immunoglobulin) work on somebody taking all those medications to prevent immune response?

Joe

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

If you get bit you need to a see a doctor to check for rabies. If you go to the hospital they should do that anyways.

This situation was a colossal failure on the part of many people.

What if you can't afford it?

How can they treat the other organ recipients for rabies? Aren't they immunosuppressed to keep them from rejecting the organ? Will vaccinations and a single dose of antibodies (immunoglobulin) work on somebody taking all those medications to prevent immune response?

Joe

You're not that immunosuppressed. At first after transplant the immunosuppression is pretty high, but as time goes on you can get it down. Usually for kidney transplants you can get it down to just tacrolimus/cyclosporin, which inhibits T-cells, but it doesn't really do anything against B-cells.

 

[Gibsons]

What if you can't afford it?


You're not that immunosuppressed. At first after transplant the immunosuppression is pretty high, but as time goes on you can get it down. Usually for kidney transplants you can get it down to just tacrolimus/cyclosporin, which inhibits T-cells, but it doesn't really do anything against B-cells.

This, plus the rabies vaccine is safe to give to immunosuppresed patients. You should expect a higher failure rate, but there's no reason you can't just dose them twice.

Also, I think there are passive immunizations available for rabies, that should work pretty well also.

 

[Fritzo]

OK...OK...I found what happened. Doctors have sloppy handwriting, and the surgery sheet said "PATIENT REQUIRES *RAPID* KIDNEY TRANSPLANT".

 

[sourn]

If you get bit you need to a see a doctor to check for rabies. If you go to the hospital they should do that anyways.

This situation was a colossal failure on the part of many people.

LOL what a panzy.

If I get bit by an animal I'm not gonna run screaming and crying to the doctor like a little bitch. Well unless of course it's foaming at the mouth.

 

[Gibsons]

LOL what a panzy.

If I get bit by an animal I'm not gonna run screaming and crying to the doctor like a little bitch. Well unless of course it's foaming at the mouth.

A lot depends on what animal it is. If it's a bat, I'm getting a rabies shot, every time.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

LOL what a panzy.

If I get bit by an animal I'm not gonna run screaming and crying to the doctor like a little bitch. Well unless of course it's foaming at the mouth.

As Gibs said, if it's a bat, you assume it had rabies until proven otherwise.