Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Nation's First Transplant Between HIV-Positive Donor, Recipients Successful, Hopkins Announces
The Associated Press: Hopkins Begins Nation’s First HIV-Positive Organ Transplants
Surgeons in Baltimore for the first time have transplanted organs between an HIV-positive donor and HIV-positive recipients, a long-awaited new option for patients with the AIDS virus whose kidneys or livers also are failing. Johns Hopkins University announced Wednesday that both recipients are recovering well after one received a kidney and the other a liver from a deceased donor — organs that ordinarily would have been thrown away because of the HIV infection. (Neergaard, 3/30)
NPR: New Source Of Transplant Organs For Patients With HIV: Others With HIV
When a Connecticut woman who was HIV-positive died earlier this month, her family decided to donate her organs to others who needed them. Doctors in Maryland announced Wednesday that they performed two landmark, successful surgeries with her kidney and liver — transplanting the organs to HIV-positive patients. This is a big deal, because there continues to be an overall shortage of organs available for transplant, and people living with HIV have an increased risk of kidney and liver failure. (Bichell, 3/31)
