First Liver Transplant to Occur Between an HIV Positive Mom and HIV Negative Baby

HIV-positive mother is successful in donating her liver to save her child's life without transmitting the Virus. The operation took place in South Africa after the baby was not able to find a suitable donor for 6 Months.

First ever liver transplant between an HIV positive Mom and HIV negative baby had been performed by Doctors at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa recently. And what is more surprising is that Child has not caught the Virus so far. It has been a year since the operation.

The HIV negative child was diagnosed with the terminal liver disease at the hospital and needed a transplant really bad. Faced with only one option to save the baby’s life, the doctors performed a medical first HIV positive to HIV negative liver transplant.

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‘By this, the surgeons have hinted that the use of the HIV-positive donors could help tackle the severe overall shortage of donors.’

The HIV positive donor was no other than the baby’s mother who was pleading with the doctors to save her child’s life.

Jean Botha, the chief surgeon at the university, said that “Medication given to the child may have prevented the transmission of HIV. However, we will only know this conclusively over time,"

Both the mother and child are recovering and doing good now.

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Use of the HIV-positive donors could help tackle the severe overall shortage of donors.

"We hope that this ground-breaking operation will be the first of many like it and will contribute towards promoting justice and equity in liver transplantation," said June Fabian, research director at the university’s medical center.

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Source-Medindia

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