Month: March 2019

Brady Gannon

Artifact 5

 

Ethics is a tough obstacle to maneuver in any field, in the area of infectious diseases, ethical dilemmas involving vaccines and treatment methods vary. These have been prominent from the beginning of the discovery of infectious diseases to today. One popular question regarding infectious diseases is the vaccine; should everyone get them? Despite overwhelming evidence that vaccines do not cause learning disabilities in any way shape or form, there has been a rising movement of “anti-vaxers” who deny their children vaccines to keep them safe. This not only hurts their offspring, but also the individuals who are medically unable to get vaccinated, the herd effect protects them and the less people vaccinated the more vulnerable they are.

The Tuskegee syphilis study was an ethical nightmare. The study aimed to learn more information about syphilis untreated in black men in Alabama. It was previously thought that a black person’s genome and genetic makeup was objectively different than a white persons. The US government targeted schools and churches to gain the recruits trust and targeted poor black men in the south, where they were poorly educated and sexually active, making it the perfect storm for a syphilis breeding ground. They were told they were getting free medicine but were just given placebos and the effects of syphilis were studied in all of the untreated men. The men were discouraged and even physically stopped from getting outside help and were not permitted to get a second opinion from any other doctors.

This monstrous study was particularly unethical because the study was purely performed on the basis of the color of the men’s skin. The men were also promised medicine and treatment and they genuinely believed they were getting just that when really they were being left to die for scientists and observers to record their suffering. The US government was able to use the Tuskegee Institute to get close to the patients because it was already a prominent institution, it had a hospital, labs, and a complete staff. It already had the trust of the locals, particularly in the black community and they were virtually unable to say no because they relied on the US government for funds so they could not refuse. When the word got out that it was the government that was to blame for the deaths and malpractices, the government was trusted even less than it already was. This goes for not just the government but for all health care practices.

 

Help Received:
Tuskegee experiment video

Syphilis PowerPoint

Brady Gannon

Artifact 4

Up until relatively recent, small pox was one of the most deadly diseases known in human history. The disease manifested itself in sores all over the host’s body, making it extremely contagious and extremely deadly. In the earlier years in history, nobody knew where the disease was coming from, or how to treat it. One of the early associations made with the disease was the color red, it was believed that the color red and heat would burn the disease out. Small pox patients were put into a warm room with red walls, furniture, clothes, etc. and were left with no real medicinal treatment to combat the epidemic.

It wasn’t until the 1700s until the first real effective treatment was developed by Lady Mary Montague. She created the process of variolation. Puss from the small pox sores were put on skin and scratched in, the results from this process was astounding, patients’ symptoms were much milder and the death rate significantly decreased. They did not realize why it worked but they were unintentionally creating small pox antibodies in their immune system to fight the deadly disease.

Lady Mary Montague was a pioneer in the immunization arena that helped Edward Jenner discover the small pox vaccine in a similar manner in 1796. Jenner noticed that the milkmaids were immune to the cow pox that was a common zoonotic disease for the era. This inspired Jenner to take pus from the wound of an infected individual and inoculate an 8 year old boy with the infected pus. This method proved to work and the boy was immune to the epidemic. Edward Jenner is widely recognized as the father of immunization.

The smallpox vaccine was used for decades after that to combat the disease and was discontinued in the 1970s. Not everyone was vaccinated because individuals with autoimmune diseases were extremely susceptible and their bodies cannot produce the necessary antibodies for the vaccine to work. This is why we, even today, rely on herd immunity in not only small pox but for many diseases with vaccines available. This is why it is so important for parents to vaccinate their children and for everyone to get a vaccine, the more people vaccinated means the lower chance of someone who is medically unable to be vaccinated to become compromised with the disease. Recent news however shows that people who are not vaccinated can still receive small pox via secondary or tertiary transmission by sexual contact with someone freshly vaccinated.

 

Help Received

Smallpox film

Smallpox – the speckled monster powerpoint

Secondary and Tertiary Transmission of Vaccinia Virus after Sexual Contact with a Smallpox Vaccinee – San Diego, California, 2012