Baltimore, Maryland – Health officials in the United States have announced a new rule that will allow people with HIV who are in need of a kidney or liver transplant to receive organs from donors with the same condition. This rule, set to take effect on Wednesday, aims to increase the pool of available organs and reduce the wait time for transplants for all individuals, regardless of their HIV status.

The decision to allow such transplants outside of research studies comes after years of groundbreaking work in the field of organ transplantation among HIV-positive individuals. Research, including a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, has shown that transplant recipients with HIV who receive organs from HIV-positive donors have similar overall survival rates and low rates of organ rejection compared to recipients who receive organs from non-infected donors.

The safety and success of using organs from HIV-positive donors in people with HIV was first demonstrated in South Africa in 2010. However, it wasn’t until 2013 that the U.S. government lifted the ban on such transplants, allowing for research studies to begin. Since then, significant progress has been made, with the first kidney transplant from a living donor with HIV to an HIV-positive recipient performed in 2019 at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra emphasized the significance of this new rule in expanding the organ donor pool and improving outcomes for transplant recipients with HIV. This development marks a significant step forward in ensuring that individuals with HIV have better access to life-saving organ transplants without unnecessary barriers.

With over 500 kidney and liver transplants from HIV-positive donors already successfully completed in the U.S., the implementation of this new rule is expected to further enhance the transplant process and provide hope for those in need of organ transplants, regardless of their HIV status.