I thought this was interesting:
cnn.com
Elizabeth Cohen: A West Nile mystery
September 2, 2002 Posted: 4:06 PM EDT (2006 GMT)
CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen
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(CNN) -- The plot thickens for researchers studying the West Nile virus and its spread across the United States. A suspicious case in Georgia has experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looking at the role of organ and blood donation. The case involves a woman killed in a car accident. After her organs were donated and implanted in four recipients, all got sick and one has died. CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joined anchor Daryn Kagan Monday to discuss the mystery.
COHEN: Daryn, there are a lot of questions this morning. The CDC is working, as we speak, to figure this all out. Up until a couple of days ago, they thought that really the only way that people have gotten West Nile was from mosquitoes. But now it appears, as you said, that there is the possibility of person-to-person transmission.
Let me explain what happened. There [was] a woman who died [following] a car accident in Georgia [and] her family donated her organs to four different people -- heart, kidneys and lungs.
The first person whom she donated to developed encephalitis and then died.
The second person whom she donated to developed encephalitis. They did lab tests and found that that person had West Nile disease or something like it.
Also, the autopsy report showed that what ... the person who died had was consistent with West Nile.
The third person developed encephalitis, and they are now doing lab tests to try to figure out how that person got encephalitis.
The fourth person developed a mild fever. They are also now trying to figure out exactly what happened.
But there is another scenario that [could] become the big challenge for the CDC. ... And let's talk a little bit about this, because it can get a little bit confusing.
The woman who had the accident and who donated the organs ... had many blood transfusions before she died. As a matter of fact, 37 different people donated blood to her.
The question now is: Who else did those 37 people donate to? They may have donated to many other people before [health workers] figured out that the blood [might have] problems. ... Did one of those 37 people have West Nile virus, and is that how the car accident victim got it?
It's a very difficult situation. The CDC has a lot of detective work ... to do right now. |
