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Viral Diseases of Humans: AIDS to Zoster |
Chapter: 17
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A Historic Tragedy On October 10, 1978, a 37-year-old woman from Boise, Idaho, died of rabies. In a generation when the annual number of human cases of rabies is measured in single digits, the circumstances of her death were both tragic and historic.
Seven weeks earlier, on August 21, the woman had received a single corneal transplant from an Oregon rancher who died of presumed Guillain-Barré syndrome. The rancher had experienced muscle weakness, chest numbness, and trouble in walking. On August 20, he succumbed to cardiac arrest, and the next day, doctors transplanted one of his corneas to the woman from Idaho. The second cornea was preserved.
Within a month, the woman was seeing normally and was elated at her improved vision. Then the headaches began. Soon they became more severe, and the right side of her face became numb and distorted. Her walk became unsteady, her speech slurred, and her right arm was immobile. On September 27, she was hospitalized; within 2 weeks, she was completely paralyzed. Shortly thereafter, she died.
By now, scientists from the CDC were involved. Following a hunch, they obtained tissue samples from the woman, requested the remaining cornea from the storage facility, and tested both for several diseases, including polio, botulism, and rabies. The results were startling: Both the woman and the Oregon rancher had died of rabies.
The tragedy at Boise was historic for two reasons. This was the first case of rabies ever linked to a corneal transplant (at least three others were identified in subsequent years). And of greater significance, this was the first case of human-to-human transmission of rabies ever recorded.
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