3 patients at Italian hospitals given organs from HIV-positive donor

Three patients at hospitals in Tuscany were mistakenly given organs from an HIV-positive donor in a case that raised serious concerns Tuesday over transplant procedures in Italy.

A 41-year-old woman's kidneys and liver were taken after she died of a brain hemorrhage at Florence's Careggi hospital, and were implanted due "to a tragic human error," the hospital said in a statement.

The HIV test on the organs had come back positive, but "unfortunately the expert who did the report wrote down 'negative' for all the tests, including this one," Careggi hospital director Mauro Marabini said.

The three patients were told of the mistake and were being treated with antiretroviral drugs, the statement said.

"They asked immediately if the transplanted organ was working, and it was working perfectly," Marabini said. "They reacted quite calmly."

The three will undergo tests over the coming months to determine if they have been infected with HIV_ the virus that causes AIDS.

"The likelihood of infection is high," Franco Filipponi, director of the transplants agency for the Tuscany region told news agency ANSA. "Even if the implanted organs do not carry blood the virus can still be present in some cells and can therefore be transmitted."

Politicians called for the resignation of health officials and doctors involved in the case, and prosecutors in Florence opened an investigation, ANSA reported.

"It's unthinkable that such serious incidents could occur today, with all the modern equipment available," said a statement from consumer group Codacons, which demanded inspections in hospital laboratories to check on transplant safety procedures.

Health Minister Livia Turco pledged to improve safety measures once the investigation was completed, but stressed that the transplant system had worked well so far and had saved many lives.

"I cannot hide my preoccupation for an excessive alarm that could reduce trust in this system and slow the growth of donations, leading to further damage for other patients," Turco said in a statement.

Italy's public health system is not new to scandal. Last month, authorities ordered nationwide inspections after an investigative media report in Rome's largest hospital showed images of corridors soiled with dog feces and garbage, unguarded radioactive material, abandoned medical records and workers smoking next to patients.

Police found that about 17 percent of hospitals, mostly in southern and central Italy, had problems serious enough to recommend possible judicial investigations against 111 people.