duRivage J
Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota, USA.
Princet J Bioeth. 2000 Spring;3(1):8-19.
In 1997, over four thousand people on organ waiting lists lost their lives. The current organ shortage has led to the need to find alternative sources of organs for transplantation. Advances in immunosuppressive therapies and genetics have made xenotransplantation, the transplantation of animal organs into humans, an increasingly viable technology. However, the promise of xenotransplantation is tempered by the unspecified amount of risk that zoonotic pathogens could mutate and infect humans with potentially deadly diseases.
1997年，超过四千名等待器官移植的人失去了生命。当前的器官短缺促使人们需要寻找器官移植的替代来源。免疫抑制疗法和遗传学的进展使异种移植（即将动物器官移植到人类体内）成为一项越来越可行的技术。然而，异种移植的前景因动物源性病原体可能变异并感染人类，引发潜在致命疾病的风险程度不明而受到影响。
