| Theme | Dealing with infections in hemodialysis facilities | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | To accept human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients at maintenance hemodialysis facilities | |
| Publish Date | 2018/06 | |
| Author | Fumihiko Hinoshita | Department of Nephrology, Center Hospital of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine |
| [ Summary ] | The number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients is increasing in our country. Consequently, the number of patients with HIV infection and concomitant chronic kidney disease (CKD) who need hemodialysis (HD) is expected to increase. A great number of physicians and healthcare providers still wrongly consider HIV infection to be a fatal disease, although HIV infection has recently been shown to be well controlled with appropriate treatment. HD facilities would easily accept HIV-infected patients on HD if the staff managing such units are aware of at least the basic facts regarding HIV infection and follow the guidelines to treat HIV-infected patients undergoing HD. Infectivity of HIV is lower than that of the hepatitis B virus, and it is not very difficult to hemodialyze HIV-infected patients. |
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