HIV TRANSMISSION BY TRANSPLANTATION OF ALLOGRAFT SKIN - A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

The fear of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission by means o f allograft skin has led to a cautious approach to allograft donor sel ection. However, no irrefutable diagnostic test exists to determine th e possible presence of HIV at the time of donation. In order to find w ays of improving HIV donor screening practices for skin banks, we revi ew the presence of HIV in human skin, explore the possible transmissio n of HIV by transplantation of human allograft skin, and discuss the r eliability of existing HIV tests. The use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a sensitive detection system for HIV infection of skin biops ies, in combination with conventional routine HIV blood screening test s, could lower the risk of transmitting HIV to severely burned patient s. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd for ISBI.