Virus kills 3 transplant recipients(traced back to donor's pet hamster)

[rainbow4321]

http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TRANSPLANT_DEATHS?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2005-05-23-20-53-04


An organ donor who was exposed to a common rodent virus, possibly from a hamster, passed the disease to four transplant patients, three of whom died, officials said Monday

The dead were a liver transplant recipient and a double-lung recipient from Massachusetts and a kidney transplant recipient from Rhode Island. They died a few weeks after the transplants in mid-April of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, which is associated with exposure to rodent waste, health officials said. Another Rhode Island patient who received a kidney from the organ donor is recovering.

The infection was traced to a female donor from Rhode Island who died of unrelated causes. Officials said that at least one pet in the woman's home - a hamster, bought at a pet shop in Warwick - tested positive for LCMV.

The Petsmart pet shop where the donor bought the hamster has stopped selling mice and hamsters, and given its import and sales records to the state Department of Environmental Management, Gifford said.

[spindoctor]

1. Isn't it ironic?

Don't you think?