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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Deaths tied to donor with exposure to virus

Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – An organ donor exposed to a common rodent virus, possibly from a hamster, passed the disease to four transplant patients, three of whom have died, officials said Monday.

It is believed to be only the second case in which the viral infection LCMV was transmitted via an organ donor.

The dead were a liver transplant recipient and a double-lung recipient from Massachusetts and a kidney transplant recipient from Rhode Island. They died a few weeks after the transplants in mid-April of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, associated with exposure to rodent waste, officials said.

A Rhode Island patient who received a kidney from the donor is recovering.

The infection was traced to a Rhode Island donor who died of unrelated causes. Officials said a pet hamster in her home tested positive for LCMV.

Two other people received corneas in operations outside the United States.

Officials are testing the dead hamster to confirm the virus as the cause.