Scientists consulted widely to determine if it was ethical and an ethical committee at Wits made the decision to go ahead‚ taking into account the child’s family’s wishes.
“The child would otherwise have died‚” said Botha.
The child was given preventative antiretroviral treatment the night before the operation‚ which took place in 2017 – and afterwards to prevent HIV.
They didn’t know if the preventative treatment would work when transplanting an HIV positive organ‚ said HIV specialist doctor Francseca Conradie.
Tests picked up HIV-antibodies in the baby‚ meaning it could be positive – but these could also come from the mother’s liver as a liver stores many immune cells.
Other tests could not find any virus in the body‚ but the ARVs could be stopping the virus from showing up‚ scientists explained.
A sophisticated test to look for HIV DNA cannot detect it and scientists explained that if the toddler was positive‚ they think these sophisticated tests would detect HIV DNA.
Scientists may have to stop ARV medicine to see if the baby is negative‚ but the doctors don’t want to do it yet.
“For now the child is well and we will leave it‚” said Conradie.
“We saved a child’s life‚” she said.
The family has asked to remain anonymous and none of their details will be given‚ said the team of Wits scientists.