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CNN Sunday Morning

Four in Florida Catch West Nile Through Transplanted Organs

Aired September 01, 2002 - 08:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: We turn quickly now back to our top story, a question of West Nile fever infection from a different source now. Florida health officials investigating whether four people caught West Nile from donated organs.
Let's go to Washington now, for the latest development on this -- CNN medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

Hello, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, good morning, Catherine, hello.

CALLAWAY: This is a -- I'm very surprised at this one, and you wonder how did the tests come about for this?

COHEN: Well, you know, in a way it shouldn't really be surprising. There are many diseases that are transmitted by organ transplants, and what happens is that as these new diseases emerge, such as West Nile Virus, what the transplant community has to do is has to learn how to test for them. But this is a very new virus. Let me tell you the facts here, and then we'll talk a little bit more about how it might have happened.

The facts are that there are immediate reports that four patients may have contracted West Nile Virus from one women who died, and then her liver, kidney, and heart, were -- liver, kidneys, and heart, right -- were donated to these four patients. Three of them apparently had developed encephalitis, which is a swelling of the brain, the most serious complication of West Nile Virus, and the fourth apparently has mild illness.

Now again, getting back to how could something like this happen. Well, if the woman who donated the organs was infected, you wouldn't necessary know it from looking at her, she might now have known it, her family might not have known it. Because, first of all, she could have been in the incubation period, in which case she hadn't gotten sick yet, and if she was a young person, she might have just, sort of, had like a little bit of a flu kind of thing, and not something that you would have thought to even mention, because West Nile Virus doesn't always cause serious disease, it sometimes just causes a very mild disease, and so there would be no way of knowing that you shouldn't use these donated organs.

So, Catherine, this is -- this would be the first time, if this is all true, this would be the first time, that "West Nile Virus" has been transmitted in a way other than mosquitoes, and something obviously that health officials need to stay on top of.

CALLAWAY: I guess, when I mean surprised, I'm not really surprised that perhaps the person who donated the organs didn't know that they were infected, but I guess we all assume that when an organ is transplanted that they have tested -- made -- you know, done so many tests on it, that it is a safe organ, but it's just about impossible to test for everything. Is this something that will now be added, to the long list of tests?

COHEN: I would certainly think so. I mean, I can think of another example, which would be "Mad Cow" disease. And, you know, when that came up, now there's testing for it, but you know what, if in the beginning there wasn't always testing for it, they're new illnesses, they're called emerging infections, and it's very -- it's -- they have to keep up with the, and this is the biggest year for West Nile Virus there really wasn't as much of a concern in earlier years, so this is another example, where the public health system needs to keep up with these emerging infections.

CALLAWAY: The people who received the infected organs, they're already, you know, with a weak system, a week immune system, if they were to receive one of those organs, what are the chances for them, or what -- you know, of the infection becoming that much more serious?

COHEN: Well, you point out that obviously these are folks who have weakened immune systems already, because they're receiving organs, and so, they're getting drugs to suppress their immune systems, so they don't reject the organs. It would be very difficult to say what their chances where, I mean, everybody's different, every organ recipient is different, but yes, your absolutely right, that these, this would be more dangerous than if it were just a health person getting West Nile Virus.

CALLAWAY: All right, thank you very much for straightening all that out for us, Elizabeth -- Elizabeth Cohen in Washington.

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