First-ever lung transplant between two HIV-positive individuals is performed!

A team of doctors at NYU Langone Health has performed the world’s first lung transplant from an HIV-positive donor to an HIV-positive recipient. The procedure is considered a historic breakthrough, as it expands transplant options for people living with HIV by increasing the pool of potential donors who were previously not considered eligible.

“This is a defining moment for the HIV community and represents real progress toward equity in organ transplantation,” said Sapna Mehta, clinical director of the Transplant Institute at NYU Langone and one of the authors of the research protocol that made the procedure possible.

According to data, around 1.2 million people in the United States live with HIV. Thanks to advances in antiretroviral therapies (ART), most of them can live long and healthy lives, with near-normal life expectancy and no risk of transmitting the virus when treatment is properly followed. The transplant recipient is 56-year-old Bertrand Nelson, who has been living with HIV for nearly 26 years.

“This is a defining moment for the HIV community and represents real progress toward equity in organ transplantation,” Sapna Mehta said again.

According to the data, about 1.2 million people in the United States live with HIV. Thanks to advances in antiretroviral therapies (ART), most of them can live long and healthy lives, with near-normal life expectancy and no risk of transmitting the virus when treatment is properly followed. The recipient of the transplant is 56-year-old Bertrand Nelson, who has lived with HIV for nearly 26 years.

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