In 2005, Petsmart sold a woman a hamster infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, or LCMV. The woman died of a stroke, and her liver was transplanted into Thomas Magee. He subsequently contracted LCMV and died from complications. His widow is now suing Petsmart. According to MSNBC, the lawsuit claims that “two other people who received organs from this woman died and one became seriously ill.”
The virus isn’t usually dangerous to healthy people, but can pose a threat to those with weak or suppressed immune systems—and, according to Wikipedia, Cylons.
At first we wondered why the hospital wasn’t to blame (if anyone is) for not screening the organs properly before shoving them into people. But a 2005 article (also from MSNBC) on a very similar case—no names are given, but the timeline and details match up—indicates that the donor and her organs were screened and didn’t show any sign of infection. In that article, a Centers for Disease Control official indicates that pretty much everyone was taken by surprise:
Though there’s no evidence that the deaths are anything but rare, recent discoveries that rabies and West Nile virus can spread through donated organs has officials worried that the latest virus might have gone undetected before now.
“We don’t know how commonly it occurs,” said Dr. Matthew Kuehnert, assistant director of blood safety for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We’re learning as we go here. This is a new phenomenon.”
Petsmart immediately euthanized the rest of the “merchandise” and shipped it to the CDC for testing, so we’re not sure how they’re to blame for negligence in this case.
“Widow sues Petsmart over husband’s death” [MSNBC] (Thanks to Doug!)
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you know, if people wouldn’t have sex with hamsters, they wouldn’t get hamster STD’s, livers would be safe, transplants would be safe, the world would be a better place…OK stop the hate mail, just a joke to lighten things up. She was a hamster virgin, she didn’t have sex with it, I’m JUST KIDDING….
http://poorhamster.ytmnd.com/
And please…no Richard Gere jokes, okay?
Forgot to make it clickable.
[url=http://poorhamster.ytmnd.com/]Poor Hamster[/url]
I fail BB code 8(
This sounds like an episode of House or something. Who knew stuff like this actually happened?
Anyone who is a fan of Battlestar Galactica knows that one of the premises of this season is who is the final of the 12 models of Cylons, so this could be a potential spoiler. Since they are looking for Earth, the series could end just like War of the Worlds when then Cylons arrive.
My hatred of hamsters aside, the donor didn’t die of this illness and probably wasn’t even aware she had it. And since there’s no way of screening pet hamsters for the virus before selling them as pets…what are pet stores to do?
The PetSmart at which I volunteer (in Eastern PA) currently has a bird quarantine. It’s a relief not to hear all the incessant squawking when I’m there.
Personally, I think PetSmart should get out of the business of selling animals, period. I’m glad the one I work at does NOT sell reptiles, which should never be bought from a pet store.
Natural Selection via rodent.
This shouldn’t be under “frivolous lawsuits.”
I’m callow and immature, true. But before I read further into the article, my thought was, “Good gods, exactly what are they using their hamsters for?”
@nadmonk:
I probably messed up some math, but it’s past midnight so…
I can’t resist…
For 99.999999% of organ donations to be LCMV free, there would need to be at least 100 million organ donations per year, as we know there was at least one contamination. Even if there were this many organ donations, with 5% of the U.S. population having seroprevalence of LCMV, approximately 15 million people, there would need to be 1.5 quadrillion organ donations
I would think Petsmart might be liable if this is a common hamster illness and didn’t post some kind of warning. (I’m not saying they *should* be liable, but with all the consumer warnings and things out there…)
Ferrets FTW
@satoru:
And,
#5: There’s no way to prove that the hamster was sick BEFORE he got to the woman’s house. The wiki article even said that the disease is easily spread from “regular” mice to household rodents. How do we know the first woman didn’t have a rodent problem in her house?!
@ChuckECheese: There you go, blaming the victim! Poor ickle hamster!