South African surgeons have carried out the world's first organ transplants from one HIV-positive person to another, in a groundbreaking operation that opens the way to saving thousands of lives.
Doctors transplanted HIV-infected kidneys from a single donor into two men in late September at Groote Schuur hospital in Cape Town, where Christiaan Barnard performed the world's first heart transplant. The operations were not made public until it was clear they had been successful.
The South African authorities had previously blocked HIV-positive people from receiving transplants and discarded nearly a third of organs because the potential donors were carrying the virus that causes Aids - a policy criticised by some people in the medical establishment of a country where one in five adults is HIV-positive.
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