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An Alabama woman who is the only living recipient of a pig organ transplant passed a major milestone on Saturday when she became the longest living person with a functioning pig organ.

Towana Looney, 53, remains healthy and full of energy, reaching the record 61-day mark with her pig kidney on Saturday.

“I’m superwoman,” Looney told The Associated Press. “It’s a new take on life.”

Only four other Americans have received experimental transplants of gene-edited pig organs — two receiving a heart while the other two received a kidney — but none of them lived more than two months.

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“If you saw her on the street, you would have no idea that she’s the only person in the world walking around with a pig organ inside them that’s functioning,” Dr. Robert Montgomery of NYU Langone Health, who led Looney’s transplant, said.

Montgomery said Looney’s kidney function is “absolutely normal.” She has been staying in New York temporarily so she can receive post-transplant checkups, but doctors hope she can return to her home in Gadsden, Alabama, in about a month.

“We’re quite optimistic that this is going to continue to work and work well for, you know, a significant period of time,” Montgomery said.

Scientists are genetically altering pigs, so their organs are more human-like to support a severe shortage of human organs that can be used for transplants. 

More than 100,000 people are on the U.S. transplant list. Most of these individuals need a kidney, and thousands die waiting.

The Food and Drug Administration only allows pig organ transplants in special circumstances for people who have run out of other alternatives.

Dr. Tatsuo Kawai of Massachusetts General Hospital, who led the world’s first pig kidney transplant last year and works with another pig developer, eGenesis, said how well Looney does is a “very precious experience.”

Towana Looney sits for an NYU Langone Health press conference on Tuesday, December 17, 2024. (Fox News)

Looney was far healthier than previous pig organ recipients, according to Kawai, who said her progress will help inform doctors about future attempts.

“We have to learn from each other,” he said.

Looney donated a kidney to her mother in 1999 and later pregnancy complications caused high blood pressure that damaged her remaining kidney, which eventually failed, a rare circumstance among living donors.

She spent eight years on dialysis before doctors determined she was unlikely to receive a donated organ, as she had developed very high levels of antibodies abnormally primed to attack another human kidney.

Looney, seeking an alternative, wanted to try out the pig organ experiment. Nobody knew how it would work in someone “highly sensitized” with the overactive antibodies.

Montgomery’s team has closely tracked Looney’s recovery through blood tests and other measurements since the Nov. 25 surgery. About three weeks after the transplant, subtle signs were detected that rejection was beginning. They knew to look for these signs because of a 2023 experiment when a pig kidney worked for 61 days inside a deceased man whose body was donated for research.

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Outside the NYU Langone Health emergency room entrance on April 6, 2020, in New York City. (Noam Galai/Getty Images)

Montgomery said his team successfully treated Looney and there have not been signs of rejection since.

It is impossible to predict how long Looney’s new kidney will work. But if it were to fail, she could receive dialysis again.

“The truth is we don’t really know what the next hurdles are because this is the first time we’ve gotten this far,” Montgomery said. “We’ll have to continue to really keep a close eye on her.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

People who have had COVID-19 are more likely to develop chronic fatigue syndrome, officially known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).

That’s according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine earlier this month, which found that 4.5% of people infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, developed chronic fatigue.

In comparison, only 0.6% of study participants who did not have COVID developed the second condition.

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The researchers determined that cases of ME/CFS were 15 times higher than pre-pandemic levels.

“As a researcher dedicated to understanding how viral infections lead to chronic illness, I suspected from the beginning of the pandemic that SARS-CoV2 could trigger ME/CFS, so these results are not surprising,” said lead study author Suzanne D. Vernon, PhD, from the Bateman Horne Center in Salt Lake City.

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The study was part of the National Institute of Health’s RECOVER (Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery) program, which aims to better understand, prevent and treat long COVID, according to an NIH press release.

The study included 11,785 participants. At least six months after they were infected with COVID, researchers assessed whether they had developed chronic fatigue. They then compared those results to 1,439 people who did not have COVID.

The researchers determined that cases of ME/CFS were 15 times higher than pre-pandemic levels. (iStock)

“There are no specific tests or biomarkers, so ME/CFS is diagnosed when someone has a constellation of specific symptoms,” Vernon told Fox News Digital. 

“This study asked participants questions to determine what symptoms they were experiencing, which can be viewed as a limitation but is currently the approach used to diagnose ME/CFS.”

“It’s well-known that chronic fatigue syndrome can occur in the setting of viral infections.”

Dr. Kenneth J. Perry, a physician based in South Carolina, wasn’t surprised by the incidence of chronic fatigue after a SARS-CoV-2 infection. 

“It’s well-known that chronic fatigue syndrome can occur in the setting of viral infections,” Perry, who was not involved in the research, told Fox News Digital. 

“Given the fact that SARS-CoV-2 was a novel virus at the time of the pandemic, the incidence and prevalence of such post-infection syndromes was difficult to predict.”

“It’s well-known that chronic fatigue syndrome can occur in the setting of viral infections,” a physician told Fox News Digital. (iStock)

The study does have some limitations when attempting to compare between different viruses, the doctor noted.  

“Patients were required to self-report their symptoms,” he said. “This makes the ability to compare symptoms across viruses difficult, as the spotlight on COVID will increase the possibility of selection bias.”

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It’s difficult to specifically determine how chronic fatigue happens in the setting of a viral infection, according to Perry. 

“More studies would have to be done to determine the actual underlying pathophysiology of the disease,” he said. “Given that lack of complete understanding, it is difficult to determine how to adequately prevent the syndrome.”

What to know about chronic fatigue

ME/CFS is a “complex, serious and chronic condition that often occurs following an infection,” the NIH wrote.

The condition is marked by “new-onset fatigue” that lasts for at least six months and impairs the person’s ability to engage in ordinary activities.

“There are both physical and psychological components to the syndrome.”

Another symptom is “post-exertional malaise,” in which the person feels extreme fatigue after physical or mental activity, the study stated.

People with ME/CFS may also experience “unrefreshing sleep,” as well as cognitive impairment or dizziness when standing.

Many of these symptoms are also associated with long COVID, the researchers wrote.

“Chronic fatigue syndrome can be very problematic for patients,” Perry told Fox News Digital. “There are both physical and psychological components of the syndrome.”

“Having a relationship with a physician who knows your baseline activity level is going to ensure an appropriate evaluation and intervention if there are any changes,” a doctor advised. (iStock)

Perry reiterated that patients can experience direct fatigue and a decreased ability to do normal activities — and this can also lead to anxiety and depression due to these changes. 

“It is very difficult to adequately understand the difference between chronic fatigue syndrome and … underlying psychiatric/psychological health changes,” he said. “This makes it a very difficult disease to explain for patients.”

‘Urgent call to action’

Those experiencing symptoms of chronic fatigue should contact their primary care doctor, Perry advised. 

“Having a relationship with a physician who knows your baseline activity level is going to ensure an appropriate evaluation and intervention if there are any changes,” he said.

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“For example, a triathlete who can no longer even stay awake through the entirety of a workday would absolutely be concerning to a physician who knows that patient well. This relationship would also allow for appropriate medications and therapies to be initiated earlier in the process.”

“The dramatic increase in ME/CFS cases post-COVID-19 means that providers will encounter this condition far more frequently,” the researcher said. (iStock)

This research underscores an “urgent call to action,” Vernon said — “especially to healthcare providers.”  

“The dramatic increase in ME/CFS cases post-COVID-19 means that providers will encounter this condition far more frequently,” she predicted. 

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The researcher called for early recognition and proper management of ME/CFS, which she said can be “life-changing” for patients.

“We hope this study helps everyone understand that ME/CFS is a real and diagnosable condition that demands attention, especially in the wake of a global pandemic.”