People with HIV who need a kidney or liver transplant will be able to receive an organ from a donor with HIV under a new rule announced Tuesday by U.S. health officials.
“This rule removes unnecessary barriers to kidney and liver transplants, expanding the organ donor pool and improving outcomes for transplant recipients with HIV,” said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in a statement.
That study followed 198 organ recipients for up to four years, comparing those who received kidneys from HIV-positive donors to those whose kidneys came from donors without HIV.
In 2010, surgeons in South Africa provided the first evidence that using HIV-positive donor organs was safe in people with HIV.
Then in 2019, a team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore performed the world’s first kidney transplant from a living donor with HIV to an HIV-positive recipient.
A new rule announced Tuesday by U.S. authorities will allow individuals with HIV who require a kidney or liver transplant to receive an organ from an HIV-positive donor. S. . officials in health.
Previously, these transplants could only be performed as a component of research projects. The new rule, which goes into effect on Wednesday, is anticipated to increase the pool of available organs, thereby reducing the wait time for organs for everyone, regardless of HIV status.
“This rule expands the pool of organ donors and improves outcomes for transplant recipients with HIV by removing needless barriers to kidney and liver transplants,” U noted. S. . Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, in a statement.
A study that was published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine is one of the studies that supports the practice’s safety. 198 organ recipients were tracked for up to four years in that study, which compared kidney recipients from HIV-positive and HIV-negative donors. The high rates of overall survival and low rates of organ rejection were comparable for both groups.
South African surgeons presented the first proof that using organs from donors who were HIV positive was safe for HIV-positive individuals in 2010. However, it was not until 2013 that the government of the United States lifted the ban and permitted research studies.
The studies initially used deceased donors. A team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore then carried out the first kidney transplant in history from a living HIV-positive donor to an HIV-positive recipient in 2019.
In total, 500 kidney and liver transplants from HIV-positive donors have been performed in the United States. S.
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