First HIV Organ Transplant a Reality

In September, Cape Town, South Africa's Groote Schuur Hospital was the site of the first organ transplant of an HIV positive donor to HIV positive recipients. Two HIV positive recipients received a kidney from the same HIV positive donor. Until the last couple years, HIV infected people were typically not eligible to donate or receive an organ. But receiving an HIV positive organ is a risk, even for a recipient who is also HIV infected. There is always the chance that HIV could have damaged the organ. Another concern is that by receiving the positive organ, the positive recipient could contract another mutated strain of HIV, leading to medication resistance and problems with finding an effective HIV medication regimen. But what all this means is that HIV positive people in need of a transplant now have options that were not available as recently as 3 to 5 years ago. I think it's obvious that the benefits certainly outweigh the risks. Read more in this article from Australia's newspaper The Age.

Related Information

• Take Our HIV Quiz - How Much Do You Know?

• Illnesses Associated with HIV and AIDS

• Worldwide Estimates of Number of People Living With HIV

• More HIV/AIDS News