"Just because the donor has hepatitis C, their kidney quality may not be impaired, especially if you can cure the virus. Because the disease exerts its effects very slowly, it’s possible that a young donor or someone in the early stages of the disease may have very few health problems that result from HCV, meaning those kidneys are high-quality." More than 97,000 people in the United States are currently awaiting kidney transplants—waits that can often ta...

WASHINGTON -- Some patients facing a years-long wait for a kidney transplant are jumping ahead in line thanks to a startling experiment: They're agreeing to an organ almost sure to infect them with hepatitis C. Knowingly transmitting a dangerous virus may sound drastic, but two leading transplant centres are betting the strategy will save lives, if new medications that promise to cure hepatitis C allow use of organs that today go to waste. Pilot studie