Man who received landmark pig heart transplant died of pig virus, surgeon says
In January, David Bennett (57) underwent a highly experimental surgery at the University of Maryland medical center in which doctors transplanted a genetically modified pig’s heart into him. Bennett died in March.
Bennett’s transplant surgeon Bartley Griffith, revealed that the pig’s heart was infected with porcine virus known as porcine cytomegalovirus, which may have contributed to Bennett’s death.