Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)

Following patellar tendon (bone-tendon-bone, aseptically processed, frozen, alcohol and antibiotic treated but not sterilized by irradiation) transplantation a patient developed clinically apparent HCV infection. The recipient was the index case for an investigation that revealed 8 organ and tissue allograft recipients that acquired HCV infection from a seronegative (but HCV RNA positive) recently infected donor including 1 of 3 tendon recipients, and 3 of 3 tendon with bone recipients . HCV RNA testing of cadaveric donors was not required at the time of the donor's death. This publication gave clinical signs, symptoms, outcomes in only two infected recipients: the lung and patellar tendon recipients. Two years after donation, at least three recipients of organs and tissues had been diagnosed with HCV infection but their infections had not been investigated as potential transmissions. HCV transmission demonstrated in 3 of 3 organ recipients, 1 of 3 tendon recipients, 3 of 3 bone-tendon-bone recipients, 1 of 2 saphenous vein recipients, but not in any of the 16 recipients of freeze-dried irradiated bones, the 2 recipients of cryopreserved, antibiotic soaked skin or the one cornea recipient.