PARASITIC DISEASE TIED TO TRANSPLANTS.(MAIN)

Byline: Associated Press

ATLANTA -- Three transplant patients contracted a dangerous parasitic disease from their new organs in the first such documented cases in the United States, the government said Thursday. Two of the three women died.

A second study also released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention turned up 26 bacterial infections traced to tissue grafts that had come from cadavers in the United States.

In the report involving the parasitic disease, all of the organs came from the cadaver of a Central American immigrant who was apparently infected with T. cruzi. The parasite causes Chagas disease, which can cause heart …