|
|
July 29, 1997
Blood screening is the primary safety procedure
used by skin banks for the detection of HIV-1 in cadavers. Now, a Belgium team reports
that nested PCR performed on postmortem skin samples is a more reliable method
of detecting HIV-1.
Dr. Jean-Luc Gala of Saint Luc Hospital in Brussels and colleagues evaluated cadaveric skin and blood samples from 12 HIV-1-positive individuals. They found that PCR detected HIV-1 in all skin samples, regardless of the postmortem interval or cryopreservation. However, blood screening methods detected HIV-1 in only 8 of the 12 patients.
Based on these results, Dr. Gala's team believes that fresh or stored postmortem skin samples from HIV-1-positive patients are potentially infectious. The results also underscore the need for caution during the handling of skin tissue from HIV infected cadavers and confirm the potential risk related to accidental allografting of HIV contaminated skin.
Go to the the Occcupational Exposure Menu
Go to the HIVpositive.us Main Menu
08197-