Organ transplant recipients are at particular risk of developing serious complications from West Nile virus because they take pills to suppress their immune systems, a study said on Monday.
Immune suppression drugs are routinely prescribed for the 25,000 Americans annually who receive a transplanted organ, making them more vulnerable to the mosquito-borne infection, according to the study published in The Archives of Neurology.
Researchers at the University of Colorado in Denver monitored 11 transplant patients who contracted West Nile virus in the summer of 2003, and found 10 of them developed meningoencephalitis, an inflammation of the brain and a membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
Two died, and three others suffered long-term health problems. “These patients develop neurological damage at the severe end of the spectrum,” lead author B.K. Kleinschmidt-DeMasters wrote.
Organ recipients take drugs to suppress their immune system for the rest of their lives. The drugs leave them generally more vulnerable to infection and disease.
West Nile virus was first spotted in North America in 1999. Last year, there were 264 deaths among the 9,862 who fell ill in this country, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.