Four transplant recipients in the US became infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), which is normally carried by rodents, after receiving organs from a single donor infected with the virus, according to a new report of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

LCMV seldom causes problems for healthy individuals, but in immune-suppressed patients such as transplant recipients, infection can be serious and even fatal.

The circumstances described in the CDC’s publication Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report began with a woman from Rhode Island who died from Stroke complications in early April.

There was no evidence of infection at the time of her death and organs from the woman were transplanted into four recipients.

Stroke Definition
A stroke is an interruption of the blood supply to any part of the brain, resulting in damaged brain tissue.

These patients soon showed abnormalities of liver function and blood coagulation, the report indicates, but the cause of the illness was unclear and, ultimately, three of the patients died.

The link with a common donor led investigators to consider an infectious cause of the illnesses. Analysis of tissue from the donor and recipients identified LCMV infection as the cause of disease.

Further testing suggested that the donor had acquired the virus from a pet hamster.

There are no effective pre-transplant tests for screening organ or tissue donors for LCMV infection. Still, the investigators say, the risk of acquiring an unknown LCMV infection through transplantation is very remote and is greatly outweighed by the benefits of organ transplantation.

SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, June 3, 2005.