quote: Jim Leavens, father of Robert Leavens, 18, who died Saturday from injuries sustained in a skateboarding accident, said the family donated Robert's organs, including his heart and liver.
Jim Leavens said the family was told that people waiting for transplants had already received Robert's heart and liver.
Hope new organ owners are aware of the lyme situation
quote: 60% of Blood bank units in the greater New York City area are from European Blood donors. It has been determined that European type borrelia and European type Babesias are different from USA types and further that Laboratory testing for European Strains of Tick borne infection using USA manufactured Test kits often produces negative results.
Posted by lax mom (Member # 38743) on :
Oh my goodness. That is disturbing. Those unknowing transplant patients will be put on immunosuppressants to prevent rejection and will allow the spirochetes to flourish.
Posted by lpkayak (Member # 5230) on :
Yes...I've been thinking about things like this for awhile
Posted by Shiela (Member # 28681) on :
Oh how awful! That freaks me out.
Here is an article about the tick-borne Powassan virus found in NY. It's also reported to be in Maine and NH. It kills 30% of those infected.
I wrote to the York Daily and asked them to follow up on the recipients to see if they contracted Lyme. Seems like followup stories are not usually done but who knows. I thought it was worth asking anyway.
Posted by katiebobatie (Member # 28753) on :
I worry about this type of stuff too...
I used to be an organ donor before I was finally diagnosed with Lyme....
Now my lyme infested organs are the last thing I'd want to give to another sick person!