Pet rodents and fatal lymphocytic choriomeningitis in transplant patients

Abstract

In April 2005, 4 transplant recipients became ill after receiving organs infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV); 3 subsequently died. All organs came from a donor who had been exposed to a hamster infected with LCMV. The hamster was traced back through a Rhode Island pet store to a distribution center in Ohio, and more LCMV-infected hamsters were discovered in both. Rodents from the Ohio facility and its parent facility in Arkansas were tested for the same LCMV strain as the 1 involved in the transplant-associated deaths. Phylogenetic analysis of virus sequences linked the rodents from the Ohio facility to the Rhode Island pet store, the index hamster, and the transplant recipients. This report details the animal traceback and the supporting laboratory investigations.

Figure

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) virus phylogenetic analysis of L- and S-segment sequence differences. A) Maximum likelihood analysis of a 232-nt fragment of the L segment was completed, and bootstrap numbers were generated based on analysis of 500 replicates. The graphic representation was outgrouped to the California (CA) LCM virus sequence. GenBank nos. for the included sequence are as follows: Rhode Island (RI) and Ohio (OH) transplant recipients strain 200501927 (DQ182703), Rhode Island pet store and Ohio distributor rodents strain 200504261 (DQ888889), New York (NY) strain WE (AF004519), Wisconsin (WI) transplant recipients strain 810362 (DQ182706), Missouri (MO) strain Armstrong (J04331), and the CA congenital infection strain 810366 (DQ182707). B) Maximum likelihood analysis of a 611-nt fragment of the S segment NP gene was completed as mentioned above. The GenBank nos. are as follows: RI and OH transplant recipients strain 200501927 (DQ888890), RI pet store guinea pig strain 200502048 (DQ888891),OH distributor hamster strain 200504261 (DQ888893),RI pet store hamsters strain 200501966 (DQ888892), NY strain WE (M22138), WI transplant recipient strain 810362 (DQ182704), MO strain Armstrong (NC_004294), and the CA congenital infection strain 810366 (DQ182705).