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It's a sign that a much-needed procedure in South Africa is really working.
The recipient of the world's first successful penis transplant will soon be a father, according to the South African outlet News24. His surgeons were recently informed that his girlfriend is pregnant.
The surgery took place just six months ago, three years after the 21-year-old had lost his own organ after infection caused by a botched ceremonial circumcision. Stellenbosch University urologist, Prof. Andre van der Merwe, who led the historic surgical team, explained at a March news conference that South Africa has a particular need for such a surgery: Members of the Xhosa ethnic group often practice adult circumcision, and poor sanitation leads to some 250 amputations every year.
To get permission to use the penis that has now facilitated a pregnancy, van der Merwe's team had to fashion a new one out of abdominal skin for the deceased donor to be buried with. One day soon, we may not need donors at all: Last year, researchers reported progress in lab-grown penises built with the recipient's own cells to avoid organ rejection.
This is good news for men who lose their penises to cancer and accidents, too.
[Ed note: We recently ran a story about a woman who succeeded in having a Live Birth After Autograft of Ovarian Tissue Cryopreserved During Childhood.]
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 14 2015, @04:05PM
Maybe its time to stop mutilating the genitals of baby boys.
Maybe its time to stop mutilating the genitals. FTFY
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday June 15 2015, @01:24AM
My father-in-law lost hist penis to cancer. The doctor said that form of cancer is extremely rare in the United States, where circumcision is widely practiced; it's much more common in South America and places where most men are uncircumcised, as my father-in-law was.
Jews practice ritual circumcision, too, and have for a very long time, so perhaps it comes down to the hygiene practiced in the ritual. The Xhosa could compare notes with the rabbis, modify a bit, and keep their tradition without compromising health.
Washington DC delenda est.