一名艾滋病毒感染者刚刚接受了世界上首例艾滋病毒至艾滋病毒肺移植

Bertrand Nelson had run out of breath, and nearly out of options.

On March 21, 2026, surgeons at NYU Langone Health performed the world’s first lung transplant from an HIV-positive donor to an HIV-positive recipient. Nelson, 56, received a double lung transplant and a new liver the same day — a complex procedure that could widen the donor pool for people with HIV who need lifesaving organs.

It also marks a striking shift in transplant medicine. For decades, HIV-positive donors were shut out of the system, even when their organs might have helped HIV-positive patients.

Once Barred by Law

Thankfully, HIV is no longer the sentence it once used to be. Nelson, who lives in New Jersey, has lived with HIV for more than two decades. Modern antiretroviral drugs can suppress the virus to undetectable levels, allowing many people with HIV to live long lives. People who maintain an undetectable viral load wouldn’t even transmit the virus via sexual contct.

That success has brought a new medical challenge. As people with HIV age, more develop serious heart, lung, liver, and kidney disease. Some eventually need transplants.

For years, federal law blocked organs from HIV-positive donors, even for HIV-positive recipients. That changed with the 2013 HIV Organ Policy Equity Act, or HOPE Act, which allowed such transplants under research safeguards.

Kidney and liver transplants from HIV-positive donors have since become more common. Hearts and lungs remain more restricted, because doctors have less evidence about safety and long-term outcomes.

“This is a watershed moment for the HIV-positive community and represents real progress in creating equity in organ transplantation,” Dr. Sapna Mehta of NYU Langone said in a NYU Langone press release. “While these transplants are still only allowable under certain research protocols, this marks an expansion of options for people in need of a lifesaving organ.”

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