Federal health officials confirmed that a Michigan man died from rabies after receiving a kidney from a donor who had unknowingly contracted the virus from a skunk.

This is the kind of story that can very easily get sensationalized and make people afraid of potentially life-saving medical procedures. So, let’s start with this: statistically speaking, you are much more likely to die from an asteroid than rabies.

It’s rare to contract rabies from an organ transplant. It is even rarer that a rabies-infected organ will kill you. According to a recent CDC report, a routine December 2024 transplant at an Ohio hospital went well until the recipient began collapsing into neurological fits about five weeks later. The patient was experiencing tremors, confusion, incontinence, and eventually, death

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