Four people who underwent organ transplants at three Chicago-based hospitals in January contracted the AIDS virus during the procedures, the first such transmission in the U.S. in 13 years, according to a donor group.

The patients, who were infected with HIV and the virus for hepatitis C, only learned of their status in the past two weeks.

Based on the negative test results from the donor, doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rush University Medical Center and the University of Chicago Medical Center went ahead with the transplants.
(CBC)

Dr. Michael Millis, chief of the transplantation program at the University of Chicago Hospitals, said his staff members were told of the problem on Nov. 1, and brought in the two patients who had transplants there for testing the next morning.

"It was very surprising and devastating for them, I'll be honest, just as it would be for any of us," Millis said.

Medical officials, citing privacy laws, said they were unable to release personal details about the donor. However, they said tests on the donor for HIV, hepatitis and other conditions prior to the transplants all came back negative.

Officials said that means that the donor most likely acquired the infection in the three weeks prior to his or her death.

Based on the negative test results, doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Rush University Medical Center and the University of Chicago Medical Center went ahead with the transplants.

The right procedures were followed in testing the donor, said Alison Smith, vice-president for operations at Gift of Hope.

Joel Newman, a spokesman for the United Network for Organ Sharing, said the last known example of HIV being transmitted from a donor to a recipient was in 1994.

Millis said he thinks the process can be improved but may never be completely failproof.

"The organ supply is extraordinarily safe, but this has demonstrated that it's not 100 per cent safe and it is never going to be 100 per cent safe, at least with technology we have today," he said.