Transplant Trials

The baboon liver did fine, it turns out. But the patient, now dead, had the AIDS virus

FOR MORE THAN TWO MONTHS, THE WORLD'S FIRST baboon-to-human liver transplant patient seemed to be improving. Doctors successfully treated a mild case of tissue rejection a few weeks after the ground-breaking 11-hour operation at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. The problem did not recur, and by the end of July the new liver had tripled in size, matching a healthy human organ. But late last month a fever set in, followed by an infection -- possibly caused by an injection of X ray-sensitive dye. The liver began to fail, and then, within a week, though the infection had started to...

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