Deadly Rabies Transplant: Man Dies After Kidney from Skunk-Exposed Donor

A Michigan man has died of rabies weeks after receiving a kidney transplant at an Ohio hospital, according to a new CDC report. The donor — an Idaho resident — had been scratched by a skunk while saving a kitten weeks before his death, unknowingly contracting the rabies virus. Five weeks after surgery, the recipient developed severe symptoms including tremors, confusion, hydrophobia (fear of water), and difficulty swallowing, and died shortly after. This marks one of the few documented cases of rabies transmission through organ transplantation in the U.S.