Doctor-to-patient HIV transmission unlikely, say US experts

US officials have used the case of an HIV-positive doctor to demonstrate that the risk of infection from health professionals to patients is low.

In an article published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) refer to the case of an Israeli cardiothoracic surgeon who performed thousands of procedures over more than 20 years, including open-heart surgery.

The report says that, on his diagnosis, 545 of his former patients (roughly a third of those identified from medical records from the previous decade) were screened and none were found to be carrying HIV.

"Transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from an infected health-care worker to patients is rare," the report reads.

"The results of this investigation add to previously published data indicating a low risk for provider-to-patient HIV transmission."

The CDC states that it only four health professionals are reported to have possibly transmitted HIV to patients since the early 1990s.