Fla. company supplied organs in rabies case
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - An official at an organ donation service in Florida says it was the supplier of transplanted organs from a man who later was found to have died of rabies.
The man's organs were transplanted into four people, one of whom died. The mother of his son on Monday identified the man as William Edward Small, who was in the Air Force.
Kathy Giery of LifeQuest Organ Recovery Services in Gainesville, Fla., said the hospital found he died from food poisoning from a toxin sometimes found in large saltwater fish. She says the organs were not tested for rabies because no one suspected it at the time.
The Defense Department has said he died of severe stomach and intestinal inflammation. The Florida Department of Health believed it was encephalitis.