ATLANTA (AP) - In the first such documented cases in the United States, three transplant patients contracted a dangerous parasitic disease from their new organs and two of the three died, the government says.

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.

The CDC said the graft-related infections show an urgent need to update federal regulations and industry standards for preventing contamination.

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 was previously confined to Latin America. The disease can cause heart irregularities.

The CDC said it was consulting with transplant organizations nationwide to decide whether to start screening for T. cruzi.

"It's a complex issue," said Dr. Barbara L. Herwaldt, a CDC epidemiologist. "Which donors would be screened? What test would be used? Right now even blood donors aren't screened for this infection."

The disease was detected in all three women, but only one recovered after antibiotic treatment.

A 37-year-old who received a pancreas and kidney died in October; a 32-year-old who received a liver contracted died in July; and a 69-year-old who received the other kidney is recovering. Their names and hometowns were not released.

Federal health officials estimate as many as 100,000 Latin American immigrants in the United States may carry the parasite. More than 16 million people are said to be infected in Central and South America. Ten percent to 30 percent of people infected with the parasite develop full-blown Chagas disease.

The second study, on bacterial infections in tissue graft patients, was launched in November after a 23-year-old Minnesota man died from an infection he contracted from cadaver tissue used in knee surgery.

A 17-year-old Illinois boy became sick after receiving two tissue grafts from the same donor. That patient is recovering.

Fourteen of the 26 patients who contracted bacterial infections received tissue processed by the same supplier, CryoLife of Kennesaw, Ga. The CDC did not name the company or assign blame, saying industrywide standards are not tough enough to eliminate the bacteria responsible for most of the infections.

CDC scientists said they are recommending additional procedures the industry should undertake.

"We are in communication with the CDC and will look at their recommendations to see if they can logically be implemented," CryoLife spokesman Ron Vogeltanz told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We already do things in excess of what the industry asks for."

The CDC stressed that tissue graft surgery is still safe, with at least 650,000 of the procedures performed in 1999, the last year for which figures were available.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.