Lessons for HIV from Tuskegee.
We are fortunate to live in an era in which research allows significant progress in the therapy of the major diseases that affect us. However, evaluating their efficacy and safety is expensive, laborious and involves the study of human subjects in an appropriate manner. The principles of such trials have a heterogeneous basis encompassing the principles of utilitarianism, distributive justice, the protection of individual rights and the investigators' commitment to patients. The Tuskegee study of untreated syphilis is the longest non-therapeutic experiment on human beings in medical history. It continues to cast its shadow on the relationship between black Americans and the broader biomedical community. Parallels and the relationship with the HIV pandemic are discussed.
Stebbing
Justin
J
Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, 369 Fulham Road, London SW10 9NH, UK.
Bower
Mark
M
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000941:ethics* / Q000266:history*; D003906:Developing Countries; D026690:Ethics, Clinical; D006678:HIV / Q000254:growth & development*; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D033281:Nontherapeutic Human Experimentation / Q000941:ethics* / Q000266:history*; D013587:Syphilis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents