THE discovery of a previously unknown virus in pigs has rekindled fears about
the safety of xenotransplants鈥攖ransplants of animal organs into human
patients. The virus, which caused deformities and stillbirths among pigs, also
infected two piggery workers who developed severe flu-like symptoms.
One of the biggest question marks over the future of xenotransplants,
especially the use of pig organs, is the potential for introducing animal
viruses into the human population. Proponents of cross-species transplants say
that the organs can be screened for pathogens before use.
鈥淏ut you can鈥檛 screen for disease agents that you don鈥檛 know about,鈥�
virologist Peter Kirkland told a meeting of the Horizons of Science forum in
Sydney this week.
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Kirkland, from the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute in Camden, New
South Wales, was a member of a large scientific team which tracked down the
cause of a disease which swept through a piggery near Sydney last year. The
culprit was a paramyxovirus鈥攚hich the team traced to a colony of
grey-headed fruit bats that were living near the piggery. They believe the bat
is the host for the disease.
No sows or growing pigs showed any outward sign of illness. The virus only
attacked pig fetuses, which were either stillborn or had serious defects of the
brain and spinal cord never before seen in pigs. Although the virus seems to
have been contained, 鈥渢here is nothing to say it won鈥檛 break out again at this
piggery or elsewhere鈥�, warned Kirkland.
The public health risk is minimal, he said. The virus has not been found in
pig products, and none of the 350-plus vets, pathologists and abattoir workers
who may have been exposed to infected pigs has contracted the virus. The two
infected piggery workers have recovered.