US doctors perform first HIV-to-HIV liver transplant
The world's first liver transplant from a donor infected with HIV to an HIV-positive recipient was announced Wednesday by US doctors, three years after a US ban on such operations was overturned. PHOTO| FILE
Under US law, it was illegal to use an organ from a donor infected with HIV for transplant until Congress passed the HOPE Act, which US President Barack Obama signed into law in 2013.
People with HIV have been able to get organs from HIV-negative donors, but due to the scarcity of organ donors, many of those waiting die before they can get a transplant.
About 122,000 people are on the transplant waiting list in the United States. Thousands of people die each year while they wait.
The world's first liver transplant from a donor infected with HIV to an HIV-positive recipient was announced Wednesday by US doctors, three years after a US ban on such operations was overturned.
The procedure involved a deceased donor whose liver was transplanted into a patient who had been infected with the virus that causes AIDS more than 20 years ago, said doctors at Johns Hopkins University.
