Fatal encephalitic Borna disease virus 1 infection cluster in solid organ transplant recipients. Fatal encephalitic Borna disease virus 1 infection cluster in solid organ transplant recipients

The existence of human infections with classical Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1) has been an unsolved controversial. Here we describe the first confirmed cases of BoDV-1 infection in humans associated with a fatal pan-encephalomyelitis in two kidney-graft-recipients with high BoDV-1 genome loads in the central nervous system and leukoencephalopathy with retinopathy, progressive optic nerve atrophy and a strong BoDV-1-specific seroconversion in the liver-graft-recipient. All organs were donated from the same donor. These findings suggest that BoDV-1 can be transmitted during solid organ transplantation and can lead to potentially lethal disease in immunocompromised patients.