NEW PIG VIRUS CAPABLE OF
INFECTING HUMANS
Australian
scientists sounded a new warning against cross species transplants after two
piggery workers were found to be infected with a previously unknown virus,
which had caused stillbirths and brain and spinal cord defects in pigs. The
humans recovered and the disease, which was raced to a colony of fruit bats,
appears to have been contained, but there is no
guarantee that it won't reoccur.
In March 1997, British
researchers reported that pig retroviruses PERVS) had multiplied in human
kidney cells in vitro. Because retroviruses are permanent once
established, and can be transmitted through bodily fluids (like HIV, the
retrovirus many scientists blame for triggering the diseases known as AIDS).
Animal viruses are usually unable to penetrate barriers posed by the human
skin, stomach acids, and immune response, but if they are planted inside and
become a functioning part of the human body, it becomes less likely that the
immune system, particularly one compromised by anti-rejection drugs, can
eliminate them.
In November, Dr. Robin Weiss of the Chester Beatty Laboratory in London
announced finding a porcine endogenous retrovirus, harmless to pigs, but with
the ability to infect human cells. This discovery reinforced the British
decision to ban transplanting organs from pigs to people for the time being.
Scientists and their commercial backers, who are pushing to begin human
transplants with organs from pigs genetically altered to carry human genes,
claim that they can screen out any viruses from organs to be used for
transplants. Virologist Peter Kirkland and colleagues at the Elizabeth
Macarthur Agricultural Institute in Camden, NSW Australia countered in New
Scientist that "You can't screen for viruses you don't know about."
Following closely as it did on the heels of the Hong Kong chicken flu scare,
the news from Australia was not reassuring. Prompt action by Hong Kong health
authorities in killing all the chickens there may possibly have averted
another flu epidemic like the one that killed over 20 million people in
1918-1919.
Animal viruses do not normally infect humans, but when they do, they encounter
a new environment where there are few, if any, antibodies to resist their
spread. Dr. Andre Menache, President of Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible
Medicine, likens this situation to naughty
children being turned loose in a new playground without supervision.
Meeting no resistance, foreign viruses are free to mutate and become
transmissible from human to human as happened with the devastating 1918
epidemic which was traced to American pigs but called "Spanish flu" at that
time in spite of the fact that it was spread by American troops during World
War I. In 1976 it was called "swine flu" after a soldier at Fort Dix had died
of what later turned out to be another strain of influenza (A-Victoria)
setting off a government-subsidized campaign for massive vaccinations which
resulted in 113 deaths and an estimated 3600 cases of paralysis at a cost to
U.S. taxpayers of $135 billion. In spite of having been inoculated with a
comprehensive flu vaccine, 500 soldiers at Fort Dix were stricken with the
disease.
This debacle has nothing to do with xenotransplants but it serves to
illustrate how health authorities have bungled in the past. Because pressure
for vaccinating the entire U.S. population came from the manufacturers of the
vaccine, it also serves to show how such dangerous decisions come to be made.
We now have similar pressure to begin transgenic transplants from certain
impetuous surgeons, the manufacturers of immunosuppressive drugs required to
prevent rejection of transplanted organs, and the producers of transgenic pigs
(an assault on the natural order of things).
Selling pig organs at $12,000 apiece is estimated to result in a $6 billion
market by 2010. The market for immunosuppressive drugs by that year is
estimated at $5 billion. In addition there are surgical and hospital fees.
The number of people suffering from failing organs and pinning their hopes on
a human replacement is most distressing. It is also a strong indictment of
allopathic medical practice which focuses on trying to patch people up after
damage has occurred as opposed to helping them to take care of the organs they
already have. While it is a worthy cause to try to help people in trouble, it
would be far better all around to help them not to get sick in the first
place.
Under the present system, the people of our aging population are falling ill
in greater numbers than ever. The cost of modern, high tech treatment exceeds
the ability of most people to pay for it. Many are unable to afford the
increased cost of health insurance. The government's Medicaid and Medicare
systems are financially strained. Why on earth would we want to embark on
experimenting with such an expensive treatment as xenotransplants even if its
safety were assured, which it isn't.
Other countries have increased the supply of human organs by assuming that the
organs of people who have died are available for transplants unless they or
their families have specifically expressed wishes to the contrary.
