Patients Contract 2 Viruses From Donor in Transplants

Four transplant recipients in Chicago recently contracted H.I.V. from an organ donor, the first known cases in more than a decade in which the virus was spread by organ transplants. The same organs also gave all four patients hepatitis C, in what health officials said was the first reported instance in which the two viruses were spread simultaneously by a transplant.

Though exceedingly rare, this type of transmission highlights a known weakness in the system for checking organ donors for infection: the most commonly used tests can fail to detect viral diseases if they are performed too early in the course of the infection; the incident may result in a complete overhaul of testing policies and procedures for organ transplantation.

--Nidhi

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