2 Deaths Linked to Organ Donor With AIDS Virus
AIDS killed two people who received organs transplanted from a man who apparently acquired the deadly virus shortly before he was slain, and authorities are tracking more than 50 other recipients of organs and tissues from the donor, a newspaper reported in today’s edition.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said a third person who received a bone graft from the donor has tested positive for AIDS.
The organs and tissues were distributed to 30 hospitals across the United States, the Journal-Constitution reported.
Officials would not identify the hospitals or the states.
Most of the additional body parts were treated with alcohol or radiation and aren’t believed to be infectious, the newspaper said. But it said eight grafts involving bone, soft tissues and a pancreas were not processed in ways likely to kill the virus and may be infectious.
The organs and tissues came from a 22-year-old Virginia man who was shot to death during a robbery in 1985. The network that supplied the tissues has begun contacting hospitals nationwide to track the recipients.
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