If it is known that CMV positive organs give CMV disease to CMV negative people, why is this type of transplant performed?
CMV negative donors are usually the much fewer in number than CMV positive donors. For this reason, CMV negative persons might have to wait several times as long to get an organ. The decision to transplant positive organs into negaitve recipients is made by the transplant center in order to avoid inordinately long waits for organs among CMV negative recipients.
