SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 01 (Reuters Health) -- A man who received a baboon liver transplant became infected with baboon cytomegalovirus, a virus that was thought to be species-specific, US researchers reported this week.
The chronic shortage of organs available for transplant has led researchers to try using organs from animals. But some experts have suggested that the danger of animal viruses spreading to infect humans was too great, and that animal organ transplants should not be attempted in human patients.
"This is the first time an animal virus has been shown to cross species lines after (transplant)," according to their report.
Dr. Marian Michaels from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, told participants at the 39th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy here that evidence of baboon cytomegalovirus was found in biopsy samples taken from the patient 28 days after the transplant. The man received the liver transplant in 1992 and died soon after. Evidence of viral transmission was found some years later.
"This was the first time that a virus has actually been cultured from a person who received an animal transplant," Michaels said. She told meeting attendees that the finding struck a blow to the idea that primates could be used as a source of organs for transplantation.
"I think it is quite concerning that an animal virus thought to be species-specific could be transmitted," she said.
