Fungus Infected Woman Who Died After Gene Therapy
By Rick Weiss,
Washington Post
| 08. 20. 2007
The 36-year-old Illinois woman who died last month after being treated with an experimental gene therapy was infected with a fungus that usually causes only a mild illness. But the infection spun out of control and ravaged her organs, suggesting that her immune system was seriously impaired, said a doctor who is part of the medical investigation.
The woman's body was also teeming with a cold-sore virus that the body normally keeps in check, another indication of a faltering immune system. And because of a tear inside her abdomen -- perhaps caused by infection, perhaps by injury -- she had an internal blood clot the size of a watermelon.
No formal cause of death has been declared for Jolee Mohr, who died July 24. Mohr had been generally healthy until July 2, when trillions of genetically engineered viruses were injected into her right knee in an experimental treatment for her rheumatoid arthritis.
The injected viruses were genetically modified so they would suppress the immune system -- which is responsible for the inflammation of rheumatoid arthritis -- only in her...
Related Articles
By Emma McDonald Kennedy
| 09.25.2025
In the leadup to the 2024 election, Donald Trump repeatedly promised to make IVF more accessible. He made the commitment central to his campaign, even referring to himself as the “father of IVF.” In his first month in office, Trump issued an executive order promising to expand IVF access. The order set a 90-day deadline for policy recommendations for “lowering costs and reducing barriers to IVF,” although it didn’t make any substantive reproductive healthcare policy changes.
The response to the...
By Margaux MacColl, The San Francisco Standard | 09.17.2025
Designer babies are coming soon to an IVF clinic near you.
Nucleus Genomics, founded by Kian Sadeghi in 2020, when he was just 20, got its start analyzing genomes to weigh a person’s risk of everything from cancer to ADHD...
By Marianne Lamers, NEMO Kennislink [cites CGS' Katie Hasson] | 09.23.2025
Een rijtje gespreide vulva’s gaapt de bezoeker aan. Zó ziet een bevalling eruit, en zó een baarmoeder met foetus. Een zwangerschap, maar dan zonder zwangere vrouw, gestript van zorgen, gêne en pijn. De zwangerschapsmodellen en oefenbekkens, te zien in de...
By Charmayne Allison, ABC News | 09.21.2025
It has been seven years since Chinese biophysicist He Jiankui made an announcement that shocked the world's scientists.
He had made the world's first gene-edited babies.
Through rewriting DNA in twin girls' embryos, the man who would later be dubbed...