Xenotransplantation: Guidance on Infectious Disease Prevention and Management

Overview

Whether or not xenotransplantation should be done is beyond the scope of this paper. Therefore, this paper does not examine the important ethical issues surrounding this technology, nor does its evaluate its feasibility. Rather, making the assumption that this technology might be implemented, the authors have focused their discussion on some of the infectious disease implications of xenotransplantation. The paper presents an evaluation of the risks involved and offers ideas on how to minimize them. By addressing the concepts presented in this paper, interested parties should be able start developing appropriate guidelines for preventing or managing the infectious disease risks associated with this technology.