By Juan Duran

In this article, Public health investigators report on a case involving a kidney transplant recipient who contracted rabies after transplantation from an undetected infected donor. A novel approach using social media to map the transmission of the disease was used to identify other potentially infected individuals.
An unnamed organ recipient from Maryland, who passed away in 2013 due to the rabies virus, was one of three individuals to …

By Julie Killian

About ninety percent of people in the United States are in support of organ and tissue donations, but only thirty percent are thoroughly familiar with the process it takes to become a donor. Every 11 minutes, another person is placed on the waiting list for organ transplantation in the United States. Over 117,000 individuals are in need of either an organ or a tissue transplant. To help with …

By Kaitlyn Schaeffer

Legend has it that Avicenna, the Iranian physician and philosopher, was the first person to suture nerves together.
Today, Iran ranks first in kidney transplantation in the Middle East, and ranks fourth in organ transplantation in the world.
Every year Iran carries out 2500 kidney transplants, 500 liver transplants, 80 heart transplants, 15-20 lung transplants, and 20 pancreatic transplants. Ever since developing the technology necessary for harvesting organs and performing …

By Kaitlyn Schaeffer

State Senator Don White, representing Pennsylvania’s 41st District, recently introduced two pieces of legislation that he hopes will lead to increases in organ donation in his state.
Senate Bill 1305 would alter identification card and driver’s license applications in a subtle but substantive way. The state is legally required to ask individuals whether they wish to have organ donor designation printed on their driver’s licenses, but this new legislation …

By Caroline Song
Richard Adhikari of TechNewsWorld, has written an article titled “Bioprinting, Part 2 – The Ethical Conundrum” where he voices raising concerns in the face of medical improvement. Within the United States, around 120,000 individuals are on a waiting list for an organ transplant. However, the amount of donors is low and there are concerns about the quality of life post-transplant. The hope is that 3D printing could be …

By Noushaba T. Rashid

Doctors from the Great Ormond Street Hospital in the United Kingdom are arguing that the guidelines for organ donations from infants less than two months should be amended. Currently, the UK discourages neonatal donation, mainly due to the uncertainty of whether or not the infant is brain dead, which is the loss of all brain function. However, these donations could be very valuable in saving many infant …

By Kaitlyn Schaeffer
While organ donation is viewed by Canadians as an essential component of a well-functioning health care system, and while 95% of the population supports organ donation, only 50%-60% are willing to donate. These rates translate into only 16 organ donators for every million people in Canada, about half that of other countries like the United States, Spain, and Australia. One of the greatest contributing factors to these lower …

By Caroline Song

KSAT, a news channel located in San Antonio, Texas, reports on a Houston based lab that has begun building new human organs using scaffolding provided by pig organs. The process involves obtaining pig organs where they are washed with simple soap and water and then implanted with human stem cells. KSAT interviewed Amanda Dejesus, a resident of Pearland, Texas, who needed a new heart at the age …

By Kayla Santos

Face and hand transplants have been procedures of much debate in recent years. One of the biggest problems is determining who should be prioritized. Patients who are more likely to die without a transplant or those who have been on the waiting list for the longest period of time are given priority with other organ transplant surgeries but, since transplantation of the hands and face are not “life-saving” …

by Noushaba T Rashid

Spain’s first organ trafficking ring was exposed by police in Valencia, which lead to five non-Spanish men being arrested. This group allegedly offered up to €40,000 to poor migrants who did not have official documents in exchange for their viable organs such as kidneys and livers. These were then sold to wealthy clients, foreign and domestic, who had the surgery done at a private clinic in Valencia. …