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CNN Live Sunday

Health Investigators Investigate Connection Between West Nile, Organ Transplants

Aired September 01, 2002 - 17:19   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Health investigators are working to find out if there's a connection between the West Nile Virus and transplanted organs. Four transplant patients now have either developed the virus or problems related to it and CNN Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has more on the possible connection with an organ donor. And this is so scary to hear.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It sounds scary and actually the CDC says it actually isn't as scary as it sounds, and I'll get to that in a minute.

WHITFIELD: OK.

COHEN: I'm just back from the CDC. I'm actually still catching my breath. I just drove back from the CDC. And let's talk a little bit about what the CDC had to say.

Let me take you sort of on the story line here. In early August, a woman was involved in a car accident. She went to the hospital. She died a few days later and she donated her organs to four people, heart, kidneys, and lungs. Those four people now have come down with an illness that could be West Nile Virus.

In one case, it's confirmed. In the other three cases, they're doing blood work, but two of those three have encephalitis, which is the classic most serious symptom of West Nile Virus. A third has a mild case of what could be West Nile Virus.

Now in a way what's not scary about this is that this woman donated to four people and that's it. She didn't donate to any more. Obviously for those four it's a serious thing but her body parts did not go any further than that.

However, what the CDC told us today is that before the woman died, she received a blood transfusion from blood and from blood products from 37 different people and she may have received the West Nile Virus from one or more of those 37 people.

She may have also just gotten it from a mosquito bite but she may have gotten the virus from one of those people, and some of those blood products may have gone on to other folks. Now, they've stopped it so it's not going on to other folks now.

I mean they've said OK, those 37 people, we don't want any of those products going anywhere else, but before they sort of figured this out, it's very likely that they did go to other folks.

WHITFIELD: And if perhaps the woman who died in the car accident received a blood transfusion and that's how she contracted the virus, then now are federal health authorities trying to do something to kind of screen the blood supplies out there for other potential blood transfusions?

COHEN: Well, you know, I asked the CDC just point blank can you screen...

WHITFIELD: Yes.

COHEN: ...donor when they come in and they said no.

WHITFIELD: Oh.

COHEN: You can not. There is no really good test to screen for West Nile Virus, either when someone is about to donate organs or when someone donates blood. They said you know what, you are watching sort of medical detective work in action.

This is an emerging illness. It's only been around for three years. They said we can screen for HIV. We can screen for some forms of hepatitis because they've been around for a long time now and we've learned how to do this, but there's no good test.

Now there are some things they can do. If you come in with a fever to give blood, they're not going to let you give blood or they're not supposed to let you give blood because you could have West Nile Virus among other things, but there's no really good test that they have.

WHITFIELD: It certainly sounds alarming but you and the CDC officials are saying don't be alarmed as of yet?

COHEN: Right.

WHITFIELD: OK.

COHEN: The CDC officials are saying don't be alarmed as of yet. As a matter of fact, Dr. James (UNINTELLIGIBLE) of the CDC said look, if I were ill enough to need a blood transfusion or an organ donation, the last thing I'd be worried about is West Nile Virus. The chance is so tiny of getting it through those methods.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll go with those comforting words from Elizabeth Cohen. All right, thank you very much.

COHEN: Thank you.

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