Three New England transplant patients have died from infection apparently caused by lyphocyctic choriomeningitis (LCMV), a rodent virus first transmitted from a Rhode Island hamster.
Similar to a Wisconsin case in 2003, where four patients died from LCMV, the organs all came from the same donor, a Rhode Island resident who died of stroke in April. Further investigation showed the donor’s hamster was the carrier of the virus.
Dr. Staci A. Fischer, an infectious disease specialist on Rhode Island Hospital’s transplant staff, was the first to suspect LCMV.
Called in as a consultant to confer about a kidney recipient, Fischer said the patient was suffering from diarrhea and had a fever-two signs of infection.
Another kidney transplant patient complained of similar symptoms a few days later.
“We realized they had similar symptoms, and we realized they were transplanted the same day,” she said. “It begged the question, Was the donor infected? It became apparent that something big was going on.”
Fischer and company contacted the Center for Disease Control. Using blood samples, they confirmed that it was LCMV that was making the patients sick.
“It literally got inoculated into people with no immune system,” Dr. Fischer said.
Doctors are being urged to keep a close eye on transplant patients and those who’ve had blood transfusions.
The infected hamster was bought at a Warwick, R.I. Petsmart store, which put down over 100 hamsters, guinea pigs, and mice since news of the incident occurred.
Death resulting from LCMV are is in healthy individuals. But transplant patients are especially vulnerable due to drugs taken to suppress the immune system to prevent organ rejection.
About five percent of mice, hamsters, and other rodents carry LCMV.
