Months after the medical world was stunned following the successful transplantation of a pig’s heart into a human body, a new development related to the death of the receiver has caused concern in the community.
David Bennett Sr., who received the genetically modified pig heart after a successful operation at the University of Maryland School of Medicine earlier this year may have died due to porcine virus in the heart given to him, according to a report by the MIT Technology Review.
David passed away two months after his surgery and following his death the university spokesperson said that there was ‘no obvious cause identified at the time of his death’ citing that a full report was pending.
The MIT Technology Review said that David’s death was caused due to a porcine cytomegalovirus and said that the infection was preventable. However, it pointed out that the virus affected transplants in a devastating manner.
David’s case was a major test of xenotransplantation but the report says that there may have been errors while raising this special pig since it was supposed to be virus-free.
Revivicor, the biotechnology company that raised and engineered the pigs, has not issued a statement regarding the new development.
Dr Bartley Griffith of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who was one of the leading surgeons, who transplanted the pig heart also said that he and his team are only beginning to learn what happened to David post-surgery.
On April 20, Griffith hosted a webinar where specialists highlighted that the virus may have been a contributor to David’s death and may have also led it to function only for a small period of time. Griffith also pointed out that his team made desperate efforts to defeat the virus at the webinar, hosted by the American Society of Transplantation.
Griffith, however, pointed out that if the infection caused by the virus is preventable then such an incident could be stopped from happening in the future.
“We are beginning to learn why he passed on. (The virus) maybe was the actor, or could be the actor, that set this whole thing off,” Griffith was quoted as saying by MIT Technology Review.
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