Organ transplants and rabies: what are the risks?

Should you or a loved one need an organ transplant, what are the risks of contracting rabies as a result of that transplant?

In short: extremely low. Tragic cases, like the recent one in Maryland USA, of a man who died from rabies contracted via a kidney transplant, reach the news precisely because they are so rare.

Rabies is usually transmitted via a bite or scratch from an infected animal. In the developed world, there are effective mechanisms in place to protect domestic and farm animals from rabies and, thereby, protect people. (Although, it is still prevalent in wild animals in varying degrees.) However, in the developing world, hundreds of people die of rabies every day, a large proportion of them children.

The risk of rabies in developing countries is also important to those travelling there, as shown by the case last year of a British woman who died of rabies in the UK, after having been bitten by a puppy while visiting family in India.

The recent transplant case, the case of the British woman last year, and the deaths of hundreds of people in Asia and Africa every day show that awareness of rabies needs to be improved. In 99% of cases, rabies is fatal by the time the symptoms are visible. But, it’s 100% preventable. Knowing the dangers of exposure to rabies and what to do in suspect cases are the first steps to saving lives. That is why education is one of our core activities.

For rabies to become a disease of the past we need better education, co-ordinated animal vaccination and animal registration, and improved access to post-exposure prophylaxis.