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New Antiviral Drugs Could Make More Kidneys Available for Donation

Hepatitis C patients might be able to donate their kidneys to recipients that don't have the disease. Photo: Flickr Creative Commons
Hepatitis C patients might be able to donate their kidneys to recipients that don't have the disease. Photo: Flickr Creative Commons

Patients on the transplant wait list could receive life-saving kidneys from high-risk donors soon. In the study kidneys from patients with hepatitis C were transplanted in end-stage kidney disease patients. They neither contracted the disease nor showed side effects from treatment.

Florida Hospital says these kidneys were previously reserved for recipients with the disease but will now become available to any patient. The National Kidney Foundation estimates more than 101,000 Americans are in need of a kidney.

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Danielle Prieur covers education in Central Florida.