Ethics are defined as moral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of an activity. Ethics play a major role when dealing with infectious diseases and epidemics. Such controversies include whom to quarantine and how, biases against certain groups due to fear and studies done with “shady” practices. When a disease (especially a lethal one such as HIV) begins to occur and spread rapidly, there is a backlash from human beings for obvious reasons. However, there have not been any severe actions taken like the ones seen in popular media such as the movie “I am Legend” or the video game “The Last of US”. A good example of an unethical issue/dilemma when dealing with infectious diseases was the Tuskegee syphillis experiment. The Tuskegee study was a clinical study to observe natural progression of untreated syphyllis in African-American men in Alabama while pretending to give free health care from the government. The participants were told they were being given treatment but in reality were receiving little to no treatment. Obviously, the participants did not know they were being ‘douped”. While it is true that some actions are necessary in the name of science to prevent and further study diseases, I personally believe what they did was not right. Finally, in the very “PC” (politically correct) world we live in today, if scientists keep “targeting” or doing studies on a particular group of race, religion or creed it will seriously hinder the medical field due to the backlash that will lead to an eventual stop to testing.
HR: resources on canvas, wikipedia