Similar HIV-to-HIV kidney transplant operations have already taken place in South Africa/XINHUA-File
MIAMI, United States, Mar 30 – 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.
The same donor also gave her kidney to another patient for transplant.
“A couple of weeks ago we performed the first HIV-to-HIV liver transplant in the world, and the first HIV-to-HIV kidney transplant in the United States,” Dorry Segev, professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine, told a press conference.
Similar HIV-to-HIV kidney transplant operations have already taken place in South Africa.
“This is a very exciting day for us,” Segev added.
“But it is really only the beginning.”
Both patients – whose identities were not revealed – are recovering well from their operations, the medical team said.
The kidney transplant patient has already left the hospital.
The donor’s name was not released, but her family issued a statement describing her as a “very boisterous soul” who fought for justice.
“She was a daughter, a mother, an auntie, best friend and sister,” it said.
“She was able to leave this world helping those underdogs she fought so hard for.”
About The Author
