West Nile mystery

last updated 8 January 2015

Atlanta

Four transplant patients may have been infected with West Nile virus when they received organs from the same donor, a Georgia woman who died in August after a car accident. Scientists said this week that the donor could have been exposed to the virus through blood transfusions in the emergency room. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta are investigating whether other patients who receive transplants or blood transfusions run a slight risk of contracting the virus. The disease, which can be fatal, is normally transmitted through mosquito bites, but it could conceivably get into the medical blood supply, said James Hughes, a top CDC official. Still, he said, “We think we have a safe blood supply.”