PITTSBURGH — Laboratory test results show that a teen-ager whose liver was transplanted into a critically ill man had not been exposed to the AIDS virus, although two preliminary tests had indicated exposure, officials said Friday.
The third test, the most comprehensive of three that are routinely performed to detect antibodies to the virus, was conclusive, said Dr. Margaret Ragni, co-director of the Central Blood Bank's Hemophilia Center here.
The patient, an unidentified man in his 50s who received the liver last Sunday, remained in critical condition Friday under surgical care in Presbyterian-University Hospital, where a spokesman said that his condition was considered normal following transplant surgery.
Hospital spokesman Tom Chakurda said that the "confirmation test" showed that the "recipient of the donor's organs has no chance of contracting AIDS through transplantation."
