Six transplant patients test positive for HIV after receiving infected organs in Rio de Janeiro

Six transplant patients in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, each receiving an organ that would save their life or cure a serious illness, found that they left the operating room infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). . As is now known, the infected patients were donated a kidney, liver or heart from two different patients, both HIV positive. A fact that indicates that this is not a specific case. The news, revealed this Friday by Bandnews, was confirmed by the Secretariat of Health of Rio de Janeiro. Its owner, Claudia Mello, called the case “unacceptable” and “unprecedented.” The investigation points to a private laboratory that was subcontracted by public health to conduct tests to determine whether an organ is suitable for implantation in another person.

For the first time in 60 years, a similar case was identified in Brazil, where organ transplantation was carried out. The suspicious laboratory, which is called PCS Lab and has been serving public health since December 2023, was temporarily closed after inspectors from the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) visited its headquarters in Nova Iguazu and found numerous violations.

According to Bandnews, the case was discovered after a man who had undergone a heart transplant in Rio state was admitted to a public hospital with neurological symptoms. After undergoing a long series of tests, he tested positive for HIV, to everyone’s surprise, since the patient had not been infected before receiving the new organ.

Authorities then turned to samples of each donor’s organs, which are stored at Hemorio, the official medical center from which government networks coordinate everything related to blood. He tested positive and is infected with HIV, but pre-transplant tests in a private laboratory were negative. Before this, inspectors believed they had encountered a false negative result. Specific case. But no.

The first case of an HIV-infected donor (whose kidneys, liver, heart and corneas went to other people) was reported on September 10. The severity of the incident increased exponentially when last Monday researchers discovered a second donor with HIV whose kidneys and liver had been removed and implanted into three other people.

The Rio de Janeiro state health secretariat issued a note saying that a multidisciplinary committee had been created to care for the affected patients and that it had taken immediate action to “guarantee the safety of transplant recipients.”

HIV is an incurable virus that can be controlled with antiretroviral therapy. But if the patient stops taking the medicine, the virus multiplies.

Of the eight people who received organs, six are infected with HIV. The seventh, who received a liver transplant, died two days after the intervention. The exact reasons are unknown, but according to Bandnews, when she received the transplant, she was already in very serious condition. Only the eighth transplant recipient, a woman who received a cornea, tested negative for HIV, likely because it is a less vascularized organ.

It is a scandal that could cause panic among people receiving the organ and thousands of people on waiting lists in the country with the world’s largest public health system. From January to September 2023, 6,700 transplants were performed nationwide, representing an increase of more than 10% year-on-year. And donors increased by 17%. Spain, which has a population five times smaller than Brazil, performed more than 5,800 transplants last year and has twice the number of deceased donors as in the EU.