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The myxo virus, native to a wild species of Brazilian rabbit, had been observed to cause a lethal epidemic in European domestic rabbits, which are a different species.

The problem was that the myxo virus evolved to serve its own interests, which differed from ours as well as from those of the rabbits.

As a result, a less lethal myxo virus spreads baby viruses to more rabbits than did the original, highly virulent myxo.

In April 2009, after the Myxo ring had been subject to an FDA investigation and a Senate inquiry, the FDA retroactively cleared the device under a new name, saying it was safe.

The controversy began in 2008 when Nalini Rajamannan, an assistant professor of medicine, accused McCarthy of implanting in one of her patients an experimental annuloplasty ring, the Myxo ring, manufactured by Edwards Lifesciences.