The first half of the first sentence of the article:

> A man died of rabies after getting a kidney transplant from another man who died of the virus

> Was the kidney donor already dead, from something other than rabies, or were still alive for donation and later died?

FTA

> About five weeks later, the man started to hallucinate, have trouble walking and swallowing, and had a stiff neck, according to the C.D.C. report.

> Two days after his symptoms started, he collapsed of what was presumed to be a heart attack, the report said. The man was unresponsive and taken to a hospital, where he died.

> Several of his organs were donated, including his left kidney.

The donor died from rabies, and then several of his organs were donated. Furthermore: "Doctors reviewed records about the kidney donor and learned that the Idaho man’s family had disclosed the skunk scratch to doctors when his organs were being donated, the report said."

Theoretically, the donor could die before the rabies infection developed into a disease. For example, in a car crash. IDK if this was ever the case. The incubation period is definitely long enough for this to be a plausible scenario.

I question whether the original death here would have been tracked as rabies Vs heart attack.

Which also suggests perhaps it is slightly more common than data suggests