Man Dies of Pig Disease

May 12, 2000

Source: BBC News Online

Jackie Forrest, a pig farm worker in Swillington, Leeds, became the first person in the United Kingdom to die from the pig disease streptococcus suis. Mr. Forrest died the day after becoming ill, allegedly from inhaling the streptococcus after it was breathed out by the pigs. It was initially thought that Mr. Forrest had died from blood poisoning. He was taken to the hospital after complaining of chest pains. He later fell into a coma and was put on life support but died the next day. Dr. Martin Schweiger, Leeds Health Authority consultant in communicable diseases theorized that Mr. Forrest’s immune system had been weakened after he had his spleen removed following a car accident.

Xenotransplant recipients are typically immunosuppressed, due to prior illness and the regimen of anti-rejection drugs they must take to prevent rejection of animal cells, tissues and organs.

Furthermore, in their paper, 'Microbiological Hazards Related to Xenotransplantation of Porcine Organs Into Man' (Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 19 (5) May 1998: 355-65), Dominic Borie et al write that specific-pathogen free pigs in the United States (which would likely be used for cross-species transplants) could be asymptomatic carriers of enteric organisms such as streptococci. Retroviruses and prions also pose a grave danger.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_746000/746617.stm