LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUE DEALING WITH THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS EXPERIMENT Research Paper

LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUE DEALING WITH THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS EXPERIMENT - Research Paper Example This research paper will examine the legal and ethical issues in the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment. In the 1920s, the United States medical service and Public Health Service argued that black and white people differed on how they responded to diseases. Thus, the PHS saw the need to  study  the response of syphilis on blacks and compare it to  study  done in Norway on syphilis in whites. In 1932, both communities started the Tuskegee  experiment  in order to determine the  natural  cause  of untreated latent syphilis. This took place in Tuskegee, Macon County, in Alabama in which about 400 African American men participated. All the men involved in the study had syphilis and  were matched  against 200 uninfected African American men who served as a control group, and showed different clinical  manifestation  of syphilis because of their race. The main aim of the study was to examine the natural history of syphilis since about ninety nine percent of all the participants had not received any previous treatment; thus, it was not possible to  duplicate  this  study  type. According to Jones (1993), men involved in the experiment  were made  to believe that they were patients involved in a medical project and that they  were being treated  for their  Ã¢â‚¬Ëœbad  blood’, that is, syphilis or anemia. Moreover, they  were enticed  with  several  offers of  outstanding  free treatments, as well as free medical examinations during the research process. Heintzelman (1996) argues that the researchers probably took advantage of the poor, rural setting of the Tuskegee community, which had high rates of illiteracy and poor socioeconomic status. Nevertheless, Jones (1993), believes that Macon county  was chosen  as the most  suitable  area  for the study due to its high number of people i nfected with syphilis. The coordinator of the

Preventing the spread of clostridium difficilel (C.diff) through Dissertation

Preventing the spread of clostridium difficilel (C.diff) through Systems Change - Dissertation Example difficile infection, as the individual with Clostridium infection liberates enormous spores in the hospital environment, which persist in the dormant stage till they procure another individual. It is evident that standard disinfectants are not sufficient to combat infectious agents, thereby enhancing the diffusion of Cl. difficile. It is therefore essential to isolate the patient and perform necessary actions to prevent further spread to other individuals present in the hospital. It is essential to adopt the antibiotic for treatment to prevent CDAD (Clostridium difficile associated diarrhoea). The present article highlights the proof-based directives to minimize the spread of Cl. difficile, encompassing well-timed diagnosis or CDAD, close watch of cases with CDAD, education to the staff, hygiene, clothes, highly effective sterilization process for medical equipments, cleaning the environment, efficient antibiotic stewardship. Background Numerous guidelines have been made available to minimize the risk of such infections. It is observed that control measures play an imperative role in controlling nosocomial infections. ... may persevere in the environment for months to years and display enormous resistance for various disinfectants (Barbut, 1993; Johnson, 1990; Teare, 1998). Clinical Presentation & Diagnosis Chief virulence factors encompass Enterotoxin A and Cytotoxin B of Clostridium difficile (Kuijper, 2006). Most of the strains of Cl. difficile generate these toxins, causing diarrhoea or pseudo-membranous colitis or may result in toxic megacolon and bowel perforation in some patients (Miller, 2002). The mortality rate is 25-30% (Pepin, 2005). Clostridium difficile toxins are assessed with the help of cytotoxicity assay or by ELISA, or culture technique under anaerobic conditions or PCR based assays through stool examination (Van Den Berg, 2007). Materials and Methods Data was procured from PubMed with the search terms as: 'difficile', 'nosocomial', 'outbreak', 'transmission', 'control', 'environment' and 'prevention'. Data was then evaluated to formulate the guidelines for the prevention of Clostri dium difficile. Findings In majority of the cases it is observed that spread of spores and hence the pathogen occurs by means of "contact" as the staff serves as a carrier of spores and hence the spores travel from patient-to-patient along with the staff, or they infect individuals through the contaminated environment (Vonberg, 2008). Discussion Restricted use of antibiotics particularly cephalosporin, group of antibiotics and appropriate formulation of methodologies to avert medical device-related contamination or any kind of cross-infection paves the way for the prevention of nosocomial spread of resistant species of microorganisms especially Clostridium difficile. It is essential to isolate the patient with infection from resistant microorganisms. Preemptive segregation of all cases