--- title: "Scientists Reveal Why Man Died After Receiving Pig Heart Transplant" description: "A man who successfully lived for two months after having his failing heart replaced with a genetically altered one from a pig, may have suffered from a virus pigs are known to carry, The New York Times reports." date: "2022-05-06" modified: "2022-05-06" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientists-reveal-why-man-died-after-receiving-pig-heart-transplant" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "organ transplant" - "pig hearts" --- # Scientists Reveal Why Man Died After Receiving Pig Heart Transplant ![A man who successfully lived for two months after having his failing heart replaced with a genetically altered one from a pig, may have suffered from a virus pigs are known to carry, The New York Times reports.]() *\Image: Getty Images/Futurism\* A man who successfully lived for two months after doctors [replaced his failing heart with a genetically altered one]() may have ultimately died from virus pigs — not humans — are known to carry, [*The New York Times* reports](). It's an unfortunate predicament, underlining the complex and little-understood risks involved in transplanting animal organs into the human body. It's unclear if the virus was the direct cause of the patient's death in March, but it may have played a contributing role, according to Bartley Griffith, a transplant surgeon at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, who [recently gave a presentation]() on the subject. Surgeons had initially screened the pig heart for the virus called porcine cytomegalovirus (CMV), according to the *NYT,* but the tests aren't able to pick up on latent infections, only active ones. Despite Griffith's passing, scientists were elated at how long his body went without rejecting the pig heart, according to the newspaper. Twenty days after the procedure, a test found low levels of porcine CMV, according to Griffin. But then Bennet's condition deteriorated quickly, with subsequent tests confirming spiking levels of the virus. "At Day 45, he looked really funky," Griffith told the *NYT*. "Something happened. He looked sick. He lost his attention. He wouldn’t talk to us. He lay in bed breathing hard, and was kind of warm." Griffin also said that porcine CMV "may have been the actor — it could have been the actor — that set this all off." The incident is indicative of the inherent risks of such a procedure — and the fact that a lot of work still has to be done before we can start solving the organ crisis by harvesting organs from animals. **READ MORE:** [Signs of an Animal Virus Discovered in Man Who Received a Pig’s Heart]() \[*The New York Times*\] **More on the transplant:** *[Man Who Received Experimental Pig Heart Transplant Dies]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()