A Michigan man died of rabies after receiving a kidney from a deceased donor who was scratched by an infected skunk while trying to save a kitten.

The patient received a kidney transplant at an Ohio hospital in Deccember 2024, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), per the New York Times .

About five weeks after the operation, he began experiencing tremors, lower extremity weakness, confusion and urinary incontinence.

Soon hospitalized, he was dead seven days later.

Authorities were baffled when postmortem testing confirmed rabies because the recipient’s family confirmed he was not exposed to any animals, the CDC report noted.

The viral disease, which is usually spread to humans and pets through bites or scratches from an infected a

See Full Page