Xenotransplantation.

"Xenotransplantation is the answer to the donor organ shortage in this country"

Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of animal organs, cells or tissue into a living human. This could theoretically be used to treat many neurodegenerative diseases, problems caused by stroke, diabetes and many others. At the moment xenotransplantation has moved from animal testing, where organs from genetically modified pigs where transplanted into baboons with good results, to being trialled on humans and used in some simple procedures such as treatments for severe burns. With Xenotransplantation, because trials have not been conclusive yet there are many countries that may not have the necessary equipment or regulations in place to make sure the potential of Xenotransplantation is not exploited badly. To reduce this risk rigorous guidelines have been put in place, but there are still countries where materials and procedures haven't been put under any quality or safety controls. This poses health risks and does not give any valid evidence for or against Xenotransplantation. With any organ transplant, there is risk of rejection. By taking immunosuppressant drugs and trying to make the organ almost perfectly to the recipient risks of rejection can be decreased, but Immunosuppressant drugs must be taken for the rest of the patient's life and it is also highly unlikely that an animal organ will ever match perfectly with a human one. The drugs do also lower the effectiveness of the immune system against disease, and they may still prove ineffective against rejection. A more recent answer to this problem is by using certain DNA technology to genetically engineer cells to produce proteins and trick the patient's immune system into thinking the transplanted organ is part of their own tissue, meaning it would not attack and reject it. However Xenotransplantation could be the best or only way to cure someone who had a very serious disease and the only way to treat them was by transplant. The problem with this is that there are a lot more people needing an organ transplant than there are organs available. So Xenotransplantation could be the next best thing, as this would increase the number of organs available and organs could be supplied almost on demand. It has been said by the Vatican that organ transplants from animal to human are 'morally acceptable if certain conditions are respected', the use of Xenotransplantation could stop many people dying each year waiting for an organ transplant and therefore stopping unnecessary deaths as up to 3 people a day die waiting for an organ transplant. Evidence from 3 trials where Xenotransplantation of neural pig cells were used show that Xenotransplantation can be very successful. Two victims of stroke who had been left severely disabled as a result were greatly improved from the use of the pig cells, symptoms have eased, seizures have been lessened and the patients were able to continue with an almost normal life, like the one they had before the stroke. The third patient was a man who after suffering from Parkinson's for 20 years had the treatment and regained his ability to walk, talk and move his hands. There are 3 main issues with Xenotransplantation; the first is the risk of transmission of diseases from the animal organ into its human recipient. This could unleash a viral infection on the public and possibly cause a very dangerous epidemic. It is not possible to breed a virus free animal as the virus in placed in the animals RNA. There have been in the past deadly viruses such as HIV, that have come from animals and then been spread to humans.