Rates of infection-related cancer jump among solid organ transplant recipients: CDC

The number of deceased donors whose transplanted organs were suspected of transmitting Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus increased about five-fold between January 2021 and September 2025 compared to between 2016 and 2020, according to a March 5 report from the CDC.

A Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus infection can cause Kaposi sarcoma — a type of cancer that forms as skin lesions — as well as some lymphoproliferative disorders and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus inflammatory cytokine syndrome.

Here are five notes from the report:

1. Testing for Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus is “not routinely performed” on donors or recipients prior to transplantation, the report said.
   
   
2. Of the 185 organs transplanted into 153 recipients between January 2021 and September 2025, the organs from 46 of the deceased donors were suspected of having transmitted the virus.
   
   
3. Posttransplantation infection has since been identified in 48% of the 153 transplant recipients.
   
   Among those with an infection, 61% have developed Kaposi sarcoma.
   
   Of the 153 transplant recipients, 16% have died.
   
   
4. Nonmedical drug use was common among infected donors.
   
   
5. “Clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus in transplant recipients, particularly when donors have risk factors including nonmedical drug use or when another recipient from the same donor is found to be infected,” the report said. 

Read the full report here.