A New Push for H.I.V.-Positive Organ Donors

Many H.I.V.-positive patients need kidneys due to damage from the virus itself or the medications that keep it at bay.  Until recently, people with H.I.V. did not receive organ transplants because doctors were concerned that their health was too compromised. In recent years, these transplants have been almost equally successful as kidney transplants to non-H.I.V. patients.

Now that these transplants are proven successful, H.I.V.-positive patients are joining thousands of others on organ wait lists. In order to help with the organ shortage, some health officials and other experts want to repeal the provision banning transplants from H.I.V. positive donors. One study indicates that allowing H.I.V.-positive people to donate organs could add 500-600 livers and kidneys to the organ supply each year.

Some concerns regarding allowing H.I.V.-positive organs to be transplanted include:

• If the donor has a tougher strain of H.I.V. than the recipient, the transplant may actually do more damage than good.
• H.I.V. organs may be transplanted to H.I.V.-negative recipients by mistake. While rare, such errors have occurred in the past.
• All the consequences of transplants involving H.I.V.-positive patients are not understood yet. However, such transplants have been successful in South Africa.

See Pam Belluck, A New Push to Let H.I.V. Patients Accept Organs That are Infected, N.Y. Times, Apr. 11, 2011.