Outbreaks of Ebola have been occurring occasionally throughout the past years since its discovery in 1976; however, back in early 2014, the West African region experienced an outbreak and, since then, has spread slowly into the U.S., and is not showing any signs of stopping. It’s said that this outbreak is the largest outbreak of Ebola throughout its existence. Ebola is a highly pathogenic virus that has an extremely high fatality rate and spreads through bodily contact of fluids of the deceased. It’s almost impossible to draw samples to study the virus, partly because it kills its victims so quickly, and also because the virus is so hard to work with- it’s dangerous and requires a high safety environment. There’s currently no drug on the market, since all of them are currently in development/clinical trials. There are some ethical issues revolving around the development of these drugs, like who will be tested, would the researchers distribute a placebo, and who would receive the finalized drugs first: the people struck hardest by the outbreak in West Africa, or the American researchers who risked their lives to …show more content…
Recent studies have supported the theory that fruit bats may be the reservoir for the virus and may help replicate the virus (Nabel et al, 2007). Ebola is a highly contagious virus that’s part of a group called filoviruses- they are viruses that can induce a hemorrhagic fever in humans and primates. The virus is also heterogeneous in shape, which helps it evade standard imaging techniques, making it harder to study the virus in depth (Robinson, 2011). There are 5 different subcategories of ebolaviruses: Zaire, Sudan, Tai Forest, Reston, and Bundibugyo. Ebola Zaire is the one that’s associated with the recent outbreak in West Africa, with up to a whooping 90% fatality rate (Abelson et al, 2012). Reston is the only virus that has not caused disease in humans, only nonhuman
Ethical violations committed on underprivileged populations first surfaced close to 50 years ago with the discovery of the Tuskegee project. The location, a small rural town in Arkansas, and the population, consisting of black males with syphilis, would become a startling example of research gone wrong. The participants of the study were denied the available treatment in order further the goal of the research, a clear violation of the Belmont Report principle of beneficence. This same problem faces researchers today who looking for an intervention in the vertical transmission of HIV in Africa, as there is an effective protocol in industrialized nations, yet they chose to use a placebo-contro...
for the deadly Ebola Zaire virus. Ebola Zaire is the most lethal of all strains
Patients should have the ability in all situations to decide what happens to their bodies. This should be accompanied by the knowledge of risks associated with any particular procedure. Some physicians may attempt to circumvent this right for personal gain by omitting important information or simply utilizing force. This is where the debate over human experimentation arises. In a more civil setting, some patients don’t have the cognitive capacity to choose what is done with their tissues. In this case, the line of ethics becomes obscure.
Ebola, a virus which acquires its name from the Ebola River (located in Zaire, Africa), first emerged in September 1976, when it erupted simultaneously in 55 villages near the headwaters of the river. It seemed to come out of nowhere, and resulted in the deaths of nine out of every ten victims. Although it originated over 20 years ago, it still remains as a fear among African citizens, where the virus has reappeared occasionally in parts of the continent. In fact, and outbreak of the Ebola virus has been reported in Kampala, Uganda just recently, and is still a problem to this very day. Ebola causes severe viral hemorrhagic fevers in humans and monkeys, and has a 90 % fatality rate. Though there is no cure for the disease, researchers have found limited medical possibilities to help prevent one from catching this horrible virus.
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a viral disease that was first recorded in 1976, when an outbreak occurred in Yambuku, Zaire, a country that was latter renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo (Walsh, Biek & Real, 2005). During the outbreak 318 cases were recorded of which 280 (88%) died. Later the same year, an outbreak occurred in Sudan where 284 cases were recorded with fatality rate of 53%. The disease and the virus that cause it are named after River Ebola that passes though Yambuku. In the USA, Ebola killed several monkeys in Reston, Virginia in 1989 (Barton, 2006; CDC, 2000). Despite several other outbreaks, the disease has neither medically approved pre-exposure nor post-exposure interventions. However, ongoing research shows optimistic signs.
Ebola Zaire was identified in 1976 in Northern Zaire and was the first documented appearance of the virus.
The Ebola Haemorrahagic Fever, or Ebola for short, was first recognized as a virus in 1967. The first breakout that caused the Ebola virus to be recognized was in Zaire with 318 people infected and 280 killed. There are five subtypes of the Ebola virus, but only four of them affect humans. There are the Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Sudan, Ebola-Ivory Coast and the Ebola-Bundibugyo. The fifth one, the Ebola-Reston, only affects nonhuman primates. The Ebola-Zaire was recognized on August 26, 1976 with a 44 year old schoolteacher as the first reported case. The Ebola-Sudan virus was also recognized in 1976 and was thought to be that same as Ebola-Zaire and it is thought to have broken out in a cotton factory in the Sudan. The Ebola-Ivory Coast was first discovered in 1994 in chimpanzees in the Tia Forest in Africa. On November 24, 2007, the Ebola-Bundibugyo branch was discovered with an approximate total of 116 people infected in the first outbreak and 39 deaths. The Ebola-Reston is the only one of the five subtypes to not affect humans, only nonhuman primates. It first broke out in Reston, Virginia in 1989 among crab eating macaques.
Beside the Ebola Virus, there are many other lethal viruses that are similar to Ebola and have similar effects, and fatality rates. One virus that is somewhat discussed in the book, is the Marburg Virus.
Physician-assisted suicide refers to the physician acting indirectly in the death of the patient -- providing the means for death. The ethics of PAS is a continually debated topic. The range of arguments in support and opposition of PAS are vast. Justice, compassion, the moral irrelevance of the difference between killing and letting die, individual liberty are many arguments for PAS. The distinction between killing and letting die, sanctity of life, "do no harm" principle of medicine, and the potential for abuse are some of the arguments in favor of making PAS illegal. However, self-determination, and ultimately respect for autonomy are relied on heavily as principle arguments in the PAS issue.
“The fruit bat may be Ebola’s ‘natural reservoir’- the creature in which the virus finds its primary home.” (p.15) The virus in bats evolve over time and cross over to another species. In this case, Ebola was crossed over into humans and the virus could become worse and worse as it evolves more. Therefore, the diversity of life is seen in the virus itself and the organisms who happen to obtain the
In 1976 the first two Ebola outbreaks were recorded. In Zaire and western Sudan five hundred and fifty people reported the horrible disease. Of the five hundred and fifty reported three hundred and forty innocent people died. Again in 1995 Ebola reportedly broke out in Zaire, this time infecting over two hundred and killing one hundred and sixty. (Bib4, Musilam, 1)
One of the current major concerns in the world is the outbreak of Ebola. Ebola is a infectious disease that comes from the Ebola virus and it can cause death if the patient is left untreated. The disease can be managed with treatment of the patient, however. Ebola is a disease that is a major concern in the Subsaharan African Realm, and in the North American Realm,but it is beginning to be dealt with sufficiently in the Northern American Realm.
Ethics refers to the values and customs of a community at a particular point in time. At present, the term ethics is guided by the moral principles that guide our everyday actions. These moral principles guide the researcher into deciding what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. The foundation of medical ethics is governed by two philosophical frameworks that are deontology, and utilitarianism. However ultimately the ethics committees need to balance the risks, and benefits for the participants and the community associated with the particular research proposal. This balance is quite important as the well being of participants is at risk.7
In the medical ethics case study given to me, Justin is new nurse at a hospital and has become great help to the other employees but he makes mistakes often. When it comes to medical ethics, it is important to do what you know is morally correct. We all want to be good Christians and make the right decisions but sometimes those decisions will affect others negatively. We may not always act how we ought to but those decisions do affect who we are.
Ethics is the study of moral values and the principles we use to evaluate actions. Ethical concerns can sometimes stand as a barrier to the development of the arts and the natural sciences. They hinder the process of scientific research and the production of art, preventing us from arriving at knowledge. This raises the knowledge issues of: To what extent do moral values confine the production of knowledge in the arts, and to what extent are the ways of achieving scientific development limited due to ethical concerns? The two main ways of knowing used to produce ethical judgements are reason, the power of the mind to form judgements logically , and emotion, our instinctive feelings . I will explore their applications in various ethical controversies in science and arts as well as the implications of morals in these two areas of knowledge.