DALLAS

Fourth transplant patient dies of rabies

A fourth patient died of rabies after receiving a transplant from an infected donor, health officials confirmed Thursday.

While the first three victims received organs from an Arkansas man who had the disease, the fourth victim received one of the man’s arteries, officials at Baylor University Medical Center said.

The investigation of the deaths by the hospital and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention traced the first three victims through organ donation records.

The fourth death was not confirmed until Thursday because the hospital had no tracking system tracing the artery donation.

All four victims died within the same time frame in June.

New Mexico

Abuse alleged to have led to slayings on ranch

A 14-year-old boy accused in a triple-murder on newsman Sam Donaldson’s ranch told police he took a gun from the barn and shot his family after being repeatedly beaten by his father — including once with a shovel, according to a man who took care of the teenager before his arrest.

Cody Posey remained in custody Thursday in the deaths of his father, Delbert Paul Posey, stepmother, Tryone Posey, and 14-year-old stepsister, Mary Lee Schmid, whose bodies were unearthed from a shallow grave near their home on the southern New Mexico ranch.

In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, Faustino Salcido said he was present during questioning of Cody Posey by Lincoln County sheriff’s deputies Wednesday.

On Wednesday, authorities showed up and began asking Cody questions. Salcido said Cody didn’t break down until deputies took him away, accompanied by Salcido, for additional questioning.

Arizona

Wildfires may endanger rare red squirrels

The littlest potential victim of two wildfires on Arizona’s Mount Graham could be an endangered type of red squirrel that has been living on the peak since the Ice Age.

The world’s only colony of Mount Graham red squirrels — numbering fewer than 300 — has been threatened in recent days by flames lapping toward the animals’ spruce and fir forest near the 10,700-foot summit.

State and federal biologists have been drawing up plans for trapping some of the squirrels for a breeding program if it appears that their forest canopy is about to be destroyed.

The Mount Graham red squirrel, which weighs 8 ounces and is 13 inches long, is a subspecies found nowhere else in the world. It has been classified as endangered since 1987.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Study signals promise for new HIV therapy

Researchers may finally be on track to fight the AIDS virus by blocking a long-elusive target, an HIV enzyme called integrase. An experimental drug that inhibits the enzyme helped to keep the infection in check in monkeys.

Far more research is needed to prove if Merck & Co.’s approach really can block this enzyme’s crucial work in helping HIV reproduce and spread. After all, years of attempts at targeting integrase have failed.

In a study published Thursday in the journal Science, Merck reports that an integrase inhibitor dramatically protected monkeys when the drug was given early in infection.