Can Pigs Save People Waiting for Organs?

[sargentodiaz]

I’ve know for many years that pigs contribute a lot to human health. They produce insulin for diabetics and do amazing things for skin grafts. In fact, I’ve read where they are amazingly close to human physiology. But, this article goes a bit further.

One day, you just might become one of the 20 Americans who die each day waiting for an organ. Indeed, forces that improve American health in other ways threaten to make the shortage of transplant organs even more acute: Safer vehicles cut into supply; longer life spans exacerbate demand. Even though 58 percent of adults in the United States have registered as donors, demand still outpaces supply and most likely always will.

Here are some of the current uses for pigs:
One consequence of xenotransplantation being always just around the corner is that pigs have been quietly insinuating their way into our bodies for some time now. Their pancreas glands have been used to make some types of insulin, and their intestinal tissue has been used to make the blood thinner heparin. Cardiac surgeons reach for pig heart valves to replace leaky and hardened human plumbing, and eye surgeons have affixed pig corneas to damaged human eyes. But a major organ — something that beats or filters or secretes just as well as it did for its donor — presents far greater challenges. Unless the recipient’s immune system is effectively deceived or suppressed, the incoming organ is destined for a very fleeting second act.

It’s all in the experimental stages right not but pigs are being bred to be able to replace organs needed by humans. More of the story is @ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/14/magazine/tech-design-xenotransplantation.html


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[RadishRose]

I've heard of this before. To answer your question; yes; maybe someday they could.

 

[Lara]

Interesting post. Someday we'll all live as long as Methuselah ld:

 

[sargentodiaz]

Interesting post. Someday we'll all live as long as Methuselah ld:

I don't want to seem like a Doomsday fanatic but I think those of us living today just may find ourselves facing Armageddon before it's our time to go. All the signs are there.

 

[911]

I remember watching a show on NatGeo Wild maybe last year about a couple that had a pot belly pig for a pet. The lady was beginning to have a heart attack, so the pig ran, yes ran, out to to the highway and started oinking at all of the passing motorists. Finally, one young fellow thought this to be unusual, so he stopped and got out of his car. It was then that the pig started running and oinking back to the house with the fellow in pursuit. When he got to the house, he saw the woman lying on the floor in full cardiac arrest. He quickly called 911. The ambulance arrived in time and all ended well.

Check it out on YouTube. Lulu the pot bellied pig.

 

[RadishRose]

What a wonderful story 911! Pigs are smarter than many think they are.

 

[sargentodiaz]

What a wonderful story 911! Pigs are smarter than many think they are.

And that's a huge problem with the herds of feral pigs that roam the countryside in many states. They are also lightning fast and hunters have a difficult time trying to thin or wipe out the herds doing major damage to farms, orchards, and other areas.