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MMWR – Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

1. Transplant-Transmitted Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection from a Living Organ Donor — New York City, 2009

Susan Craig
Press Secretary
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
(212) 788-5290

This report describes a public health investigation that confirmed a case of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission through transplantation of an organ from a living donor in the United States. The donor tested negative for HIV prior to transplant. However, the most sensitive screening test was not used, as it was not required. This case highlights the need to revise national policy on the type and timing of HIV tests used to screen living donors. Specifically, transplant centers should screen living donors using the most sensitive test—currently nucleic acid testing (NAT)—as close to the time of transplant surgery as feasible. Donors should also be counseled to avoid behaviors that place them at risk of acquiring HIV because even the most sensitive HIV test can miss recent infections.

2. Raccoon Roundworms in Pet Kinkajous — Three States, 1999 and 2010

CDC Division of News and Electronic Media
(404) 639-3286

The kinkajou, a mammal native to the South America, has been found to harbor a parasite commonly seen in raccoons that can cause serious illness or death in humans. If the animal is infected with the roundworm Baylisascaris procyonis, the infection can be spread from the animal to humans via feces contaminated with the eggs of the worm. CDC summarizes reports of finding the roundworm eggs in three states where kinkajous were housed. Pet owners, exotic pet breeders, veterinarians, and health care providers should be made aware of this risk, especially if the kinkajou will be kept near children. Measures needed to prevent infection include practicing good hygiene such as regular handwashing, removing animal waste promptly, and ensuring that all pets, including kinkajous, are given regular veterinary care and treatment. Kinkajous now join the list of animals that can carry parasites that can pose harm to people. To be safe, all animals kept as pets, particularly exotics, need regular veterinary care to keep them healthy and protect the health of their owners.

3. Progress Toward Interrupting Wild Poliovirus Circulation In Countries With Reestablished Transmission — Africa, 2009–2010

CDC Division of News and Electronic Media
(404) 639-3286

Four previously polio-free countries were designated in 2009 as having reestablished wild poliovirus (WPV) transmission (lasting >12 months) after importation. The routine immunization coverage and polio eradication campaigns in these countries were not able to stop outbreaks following importation by that year, when a new Strategic Plan to eradicate polio was being formed. Other counties in Africa and elsewhere that have experienced outbreaks after WPV importation have implemented immunization activities that stopped transmission within 6 months of WPV confirmation. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative 2010-2012 Strategic Plan aimed for all four of these countries to stop reestablished WPV transmission by the end of 2010. As of March 2011, progress has been very good in Sudan, not on track in Angola, and at risk of failure of meeting the target date in Chad and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Achieving polio eradication by the end of 2012 depends on stopping WPV transmission in the four countries that have never interrupted WPV transmission and in those four that have reestablished WPV transmission.



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