Human immunodeficiency virus infection of a human bone derived cell line was initiated by either cell free virus or with a cell to cell transmission method. The human bone derived cells were examined for 8 weeks, and virus infection was not detected when assessed by microscopy, immunofluorescence, reverse transcriptase activity, or infection of cocultivated human T lymphoid cells susceptible to human immunodeficiency virus. Polymerase chain reaction analysis of human bone derived cells inoculated with the cell to cell infection format showed less than 0.1% infected cells. It is possible that the infected cells detected by polymerase chain reaction were lymphocytes used in the cell to cell infection format. Alternatively, latent infection may have been established in the bone derived cells with no apparent expression of the proviral genome. A large proportion of bone is represented by human bone derived cells, and it is unlikely that bone will contribute to a significant human immunodeficiency virus reservoir in vivo. The blood of bone allograft donors is likely to have a greater virus bioburden than is bone. Methods to sterilize bone should be assessed by their efficacy to inactivate the virus in blood contaminating the graft, and methods to detect human immunodeficiency virus deoxyribonucleic acid in a bone graft may be less sensitive than examining the donor's blood.