ANN ARBOR, Mich. (WJRT) – (21/21/21) – The University of Michigan Medical School has reported the first proven case of COVID-19 transmission through an organ transplant.
Research from the American Journal of Transplantation said a woman in Ann Arbor contracted COVID-19 and died last fall after receiving an infected double lung transplant.
The organ donor is said to have the virus, although they showed no signs of disease and initially tested negative.
Researchers said three days after surgery, the recipient’s health declined. They said samples from her new lungs came back positive for COVID-19.
According to doctors, a surgeon treating the donor’s lungs was also infected with the virus, but later recovered.
The case called for the donors of lung transplants to be tested more thoroughly.
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