Michigan woman dies of COVID-19 after lung transplant

A Michigan woman contracted COVID-19 and died last fall after receiving a double lung transplant from a donor who was found to be a carrier of the virus, a study found.

The incident may be the first proven case in the United States in which the coronavirus has been transmitted through an organ transplant, the researchers say in a report published by the American Journal of Transplantation.

“We absolutely would not have used the lungs if we had tested positive for COVID,” Dr. Daniel Kaul, director of the Transplant Infectious Disease Service at the University of Michigan School of Medicine and one of the co -authors of the study, told Kaiser Health News.

All the screening that we do and are able to do normally, we have done it, ”Kaul added.

The donor was an Upper Midwestern woman who died of a serious brain injury in a car accident.

The recipient had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and underwent surgery at Ann Arbor University Hospital.

Nose and throat samples taken from the donor and recipient had tested negative for COVID-19.

However, three days after the surgery, the woman developed a high fever, low blood pressure, heavy breathing and a lung infection, the researchers said.

Doctors decided to test for COVID-19 after the woman went into septic shock. Fluids taken from the lungs were also tested and the results were positive.

“History obtained from [the donor’s] the family did not reveal any history of travel or recent fever, cough, headache or diarrhea, ”the study said.

“It is not known if the donor has recently been exposed to people known or suspected to be infected with SARS-CoV-2.”

Four days after the operation, a surgeon who had manipulated the donor’s lungs also tested positive for the virus, but later recovered.

During this time, the transplant recipient deteriorated rapidly. She died 61 days after the operation.

Kaul concluded that the Michigan case proves there is a need for more extensive organ sampling before transplant, especially in areas where there are more cases of COVID-19.