DEADLY VIRUS UNKNOWN TO MEDICAL SCIENCE IS BEHIND DEATHS OF 3 PEOPLE

A DEADLY virus unknown to medical science was behind the deaths of three Victorians who received organs from the one donor.
The unnamed bug has been linked to Ebola virus -- responsible for the deaths of thousands in central Africa since the 1970s.

After baffling local scientists, experts from New York's Columbia University were called in to help solve the mystery of the multiple transplant deaths being investigated by the Coroner.

Initial investigations and tests had been unable to determine any common link between the donor and the three recipients.

The presence of the virus in the recipients is thought to be a world first. One of the New York team said: "The discovery of this virus is of national and international significance."

The Sunday Herald Sun revealed the deaths in February.

Grandmother Lina Sirianni, 63, died after receiving a kidney transplant at Austin Hospital.

Monash University lecturer Dr Gurpal Kaur, 64, died after receiving a liver transplant there.

The third, unnamed victim received a kidney at Royal Melbourne Hospital.

The male donor whose organs carried the suspected killer bug had died in Dandenong Hospital of a brain haemorrhage in December after returning from overseas -- it is believed most of his trip was spent in Europe.

The virus is part of the rodent-borne arenavirus family and can cause "old-world" diseases such as Yellow Fever, Ebola and Lymphocytic chorio meningitis.

Victoria's acting Chief Health Officer, Dr John Carnie, confirmed the virus had been detected in multiple samples from all three transplant patients

But there was no evidence the virus represented a public health risk, he said.

Health authorities are examining whether future donated organs can be screened for the virus.

A spokesman for the Victorian Coroner's office said families of the victims were told yesterday. There would be a formal inquest.

Experts from Columbia's Greene Infectious Diseases Laboratory helped solve the mystery.

Initial investigations and tests were unable to determine any common link between the donor and the three recipients.

Dr Carnie said the risk to the public was minimal because "these viruses affect immuno-compromised people and it is rarely fatal in those with normal immune systems ".

"We have not had any indication of any unexplained illnesses among families of the donor or recipients," he said.

"This would be the case if it was transmissable, person to person.

"Our supposition is it was transmitted by organ transplantation."

Cutting edge techniques were used for the first time by the Greene lab -- in collaboration with Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory -- to gene sequence the virus.

"Our gene technology enables unbiased sequencing of all agents present," Columbia's Prof Ian Lipkin said.

"We found a handful (of combinations) that were related to Lassa virus or LCMV. Using these clues we can confidently say this is a new virus, present in the original organs and so different than anything seen before."

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