An organ donor card (archive). – Florence Durand
Despite the new coronavirus epidemic and the
resulting containment, it is always possible, necessary, even, to
donate blood. Regarding the organ harvesting and transplant activity,
the Biomedicine Agency recommends “postponing the date of operations, if the recipient’s risk of being infected exceeds the benefit of transplantation”. A reader of 20 minutes asks, however, what about the samples taken from people who died from Covid-19:
“If I die from coronavirus, can my organs still be donated?” »Fred
Here are the answers we found:
There are two kinds of donation: that of living donors and that of deceased donors, reminds 20 minutes Pr Olivier Bastien, director of organ and tissue harvesting and transplant activity in France at the Agence de la Biomédecine. “For the former, the transplants are officially suspended, whether or not they are contaminated with Covid-19,” he insists. But the assessments can continue with the medical team, taking care of course to protect themselves, to make this donation when the crisis is over. “
All donors are systematically tested to ensure there is no risk of transmission.#graft #transplantation# COVID19
– Biomedicine Agency (@ag_biomedecine) March 19, 2020
As for the latter, “the deceased donors, Covid-19 positive, the High Council for Public Health did not prohibit the removal of their vital organs, more specifically the heart and the liver. It’s up to the medical team to decide. For the lung, it was considered that the risk was not acceptable and that an organ should not be removed from an infected person. “
However, “so far, the situation has not really arisen,” says Professor Olivier Bastien. This is because donors are systematically tested [au Covid-19]. In addition, in all emergency situations, we have always found a negative donor [au Covid-19]. “In addition,” all transplant recipients who were infected with the new coronavirus were old transplant recipients, that is to say that they developed the infection outside the transplant, “said the expert.
As a reminder, so far, no study has shown that Covid-19 is transmitted by blood. Anyone wishing to donate must continue to donate, said the EFS.
So that you can see more clearly, 20 minutes is working to answer your questions, which you can send to us by following the procedure below. And don’t forget to leave your email. Thank you in advance (and take care of yourself)!
Seven questions you don’t dare ask about organ donation
