Alva Review-Courier -

WASHINGTON (AP) — Doctors can safely transplant hepatitis C-infected lungs and hearts into people desperate for a new organ, say researchers who may have found a way to protect those patients from getting the risky virus.

The experiment, reported Wednesday, is the latest attempt to put a dent in the nation's long transplant waiting list by using organs that otherwise would be wasted, often ones from victims of the opioid epidemic.

The new twist: Instead of trying to cure hepatitis C after it took hold in transplant recipients, researchers at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital say a faster,...