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American Morning
Deadly Organ Donation
Aired September 02, 2002 - 07:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Authorities at the Centers for Disease Control are investigating what could be the first human-to-human transfer of the West Nile virus. Organs from a Georgia woman, who died in a car accident last month, were donated to four patients. All became ill, and one has died.
Our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is at CNN Center this morning to explain why this case isn't exactly cut and dry, and they still have a lot more questions.
Elizabeth -- good morning.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
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 is a woman who died in a car accident in Georgia. We have her represented up there as the accident victim. She got into an accident, went to the hospital. After she died, her family donated her organs to four different people -- heart, kidneys and lungs.
Now, the first person who she donated to developed encephalitis, and then died.
The second person who she donated to developed encephalitis. They did lab tests and found that that person had West Nile disease or something like it.
Now, also, the first person who died, the autopsy report showed that they also, it 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.
Now, as terrible as this story is for these four people, if, indeed, the woman who had the accident got West Nile virus from a mosquito bite, then the story pretty much ends there. What happens is, is that she donated her organs only to those four people. These four people are obviously in a very difficult situation, but the situation ends with those four.
But there is another scenario that will become the big challenge for the CDC, if it comes true. 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, she 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 they figured out that the blood, potentially, has problems with it.
And so, now, what the CDC has to do is they have to go back and figure out, who else did those 37 people donate to? 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 that they need to do right now, and it's going to be -- it, of course, brings up the question, well, gee why don't they screen people when people go to give blood?
And yesterday, I spoke with Dr. James Hughes, who is the head of Infectious Diseases for the CDC, and I asked him that question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN (on camera): When someone comes in to donate blood, is there any way to test their blood for the presence of West Nile virus?
DR. JAMES HUGHES, DIRECTOR, CDC CENTER FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Not currently. At the time of blood donation today, there is not a test that could be used to screen an asymptomatic person in a reliable way for evidence of West Nile infection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: Now, with no tests to screen for West Nile, when people donate blood, that sounds pretty scary. But Dr. Hughes told me yesterday, you know what? It's not as scary as it sounds. The risk from getting West Nile disease from an organ or from blood is still minimal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HUGHES: If I needed an organ transplant, the last thing that I would be worried about would be the risk of West Nile Virus infection.
COHEN (on camera): And if you needed a blood transfusion?
HUGHES: And similarly, if I needed a blood transfusion, I wouldn't give West Nile virus a second thought.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: So to sum it up, this is a medical mystery that the CDC is working on, as we speak. They have a lot of work to do -- Daryn.
KAGAN: That they do, and we will follow it with fascination.
Elizabeth Cohen at CNN -- thank you.
COHEN: Thank you.
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