Those with HIV can safely receive donated kidneys from deceased donors with the virus, a new large study says as the US government moves to expand the practice. According to research, this could shorten the wait for organs for all - regardless of HIV status. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at nearly 200 kidney transplants performed across the US.
Researchers said they found similar results whether the donated organ came from a person with or without the AIDS virus. Researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine say their study findings support formally adopting the use of organs from donors with HIV as standard clinical practice for people with HIV in need of kidney transplantation. HIV kidney transplants are not accepted due to fear of infection HIV-to-HIV transplantation has not been accepted as the standard of care due to concerns about organ recipients becoming infected with other strains of HIV – which led to the so-called HIV superinfection.
According to experts, recipients' need for ongoing post-surgical immunosuppression would damage either the donated organ or lead to a resurgence of the recipient's HIV viral blood counts. A serious complication in all transplantation is that the recipient's immune system would recognize the donated organ as "foreign" and attack it, much like it would an invading virus. And so, for this reason, immune-suppressing drugs are used to prevent organ transplant rejection.
However, early success with HIV-to-HI.
