A donor whose organs were used in transplants by six German hospitals had probably contracted rabies before dying, one of the hospitals said on Wednesday.

“After the transplant it has emerged that the organ donor was very probably infected with rabies,” a spokeswoman for the Heidelberg University clinic said.

She added that five other hospitals in Germany had transplanted other organs from the deceased donor.

The clinic intended to provide further details later on Thursday.

Rabies is a serious infection of the nervous system and is usually transmitted to humans and animals by a bite from an infected animal. Once clinical rabies develops, it is almost always fatal.