Northwestern Hospital Patient Getting Anti-Rabies Shots After Transplant
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- An Illinois organ transplant recipient is receiving anti-rabies shots after another recipient from the same donor died of the disease.
Illinois Department of Public Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold says the patient has no rabies symptoms, but began treatment on Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that four people received donated organs from a man unknowingly infected with rabies.
The donor died in Florida in 2011, and his kidneys, heart and liver were transplanted soon afterward. A Maryland man who received a kidney died more than a week ago.
Arnold would not disclose the age or gender of the Illinois recipient, or the organ the patient received.
Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago confirmed the transplant was performed there and that its doctors are administering the rabies treatment.
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