February 9, 2016 – HIV Donor

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Anchor lead:  Even those who are HIV positive can be organ donors, Elizabeth Tracey reports

People infected with HIV have historically been unable to be organ donors, but now a new initiative spearheaded by Dorry Segev and colleagues at Johns Hopkins has changed that.  Suitable organs for transplant from those who are HIV positive can now be transplanted into recipients who also have HIV.

Segev: What we’re trying to do is help patients with HIV get transplanted. There is a potential pool of donors out there who have HIV.  Obviously those organs can’t go into somebody who doesn’t have HIV but we’re going to use those organs and put them into somebody who has HIV.  If you have HIV and you’re on an organ transplant list your likelihood of dying is very very high without a transplant.  So it’s particularly important to get these patients transplanted, and there is a potentially novel source of organs for them.  :33

Segev expects the first HIV to HIV transplant to take place soon.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.