Organ transplants and blood transfusions may transmit West Nile virus

Four US recipients of organs from one donor have become infected with West Nile virus. Three of the transplant recipients, resident in Florida and Georgia, developed encephalitis. One has died, and the other two are recovering in hospital. The fourth, a Florida woman aged 71, underwent a liver transplantation at a Jacksonville hospital then developed mild symptoms of viral infection without encephalitis. She tested positive for the virus at the Florida Department of Health laboratory and is now recovering at home. The donor, who died in Georgia …