Essay about The Science, Technology, and Ethics of HIV Vaccine Research

Since its identification approximately two decades ago, HIV has increasingly spread globally, surpassing expectations (1). The number of people living with HIV worldwide is estimated to be 36 million, with 20 million people having died from the disease, giving a total number of 56 million being infected (1). In 2000 alone, 5.3 million people were infected with HIV and there is potential for further spread. HIV infection rates vary all over the world with the highest rates in Sub-Saharan Africa (1). Responding to this epidemic has been a challenge as infection rates have increased worldwide despite tremendous public health efforts by nations (1). The identification of potential interventions to reduce the magnitude of the problem has

In the 1980s, a mysterious disease began to take the lives of Americans. With the cause unknown, a fear grew among Americans. An unusually high rate of people was becoming sick with strange and rare diseases. When experimental treatments failed to work, people died. This mysterious disease is what we now know as HIV–Human Immunodeficiency Virus. In the past thirty-five years, the HIV has taken many turns in history. Although we do not hear about HIV and AIDS now, it is still a prevalent issue in the United States and in the world.

Doctors see the importance of vaccines on a local scale, as they protect children and communities, but researchers and scientists see the importance of vaccines on a global scale. Over the years, the world has seen many close calls with viruses such as Ebola, Swine Flu, and Zika, each proving to be slightly more difficult to address yet preparation has not changed to accommodate for the adapting viruses. Researchers and scientists are educated to be a step ahead of viruses that threaten society and the implementation of the CEPI would allow science the means to commence the process of eradicating viruses. Already the CEPI has funding to research three high profile viruses however the more money the CEPI can allocate, the bigger its targets can become. Researchers hope to eventually take on viruses such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, three of the most widespread and adaptive viruses in the world today. With most viruses much easier to address when compared to the abilities of HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria, researchers hope funding comes quickly. Sciences ability to protect the world from pandemics depends wholly on the success of the CEPI, nowhere else is there funding dedicated solely to the research of viruses and their possible vaccinations. For researchers and scientists, the success of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparation Innovations is crucial for the future of a world threatened by adaptive viruses that currently have no

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS is a pandemic problem affecting global health. At the end of 2015, 36.7 million people were living with HIV/AIDS globally. The rate of incidence is more prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa with almost 1 in every 24 adults living with HIV/AIDS. In the united states, HIV/AIDS is a diversified health problem affecting all sexes, ages and races and involving the transmission of multiple risk behavior. However, with the introduction of various prevention programs and antiretroviral drugs, the incidence of HIV/AIDS has reduced.

In the sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of the population suffers from HIV leading to AIDS. The culprits responsible for this epidemic include the lack of knowledge about the disease, disuse of condoms due to religious practices and the overall poor hygiene. If left untreated, the rampant surge of AIDS can terrribly impact the cost of their healthcare, the African economy and the welfare of the people. This implications justify immediately finding remedies to what ails the sub-Saharan population.

If you look at how everything has developed since AIDS was first regarded as s major threat to public health in the beginning of the 1980’s it could be said that a lot of progress has been made. Not in a way where infected individuals around the world get the treatment they need or the developing countries get completely the support necessary, but today the world is closer to that goal than years before. This is important to outline because people tend to forget the progress been made, as they are only searching for a certain ending or result. The final solution to the dilemma between distribution of drugs to all people in need and the costly and continuous research required to find a cure, is not in reach [3].

In 2011 there were an estimated 23.5 million people living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. 1 This rate has increased since 2009, when an estimated 22.5 million people were existing with Aids, as well as 2.3 million children. 2 In 2012, more than 1.1-million individuals were believed to have dies from AIDS-related

HIV and AIDS have affected millions of people throughout the world. Since 1981, there have been 25 million deaths due to AIDS involving men, women, and children. Presently there are 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS around the world and two million die each year from AIDS related illnesses. The Center for Disease Control estimates that one-third of the one million Americans living with HIV are not aware that they have it. The earliest known case of HIV was in 1959. It was discovered in a blood sample from a man in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Looking further into the genetics of this blood sample researchers suggested that it had originated from a virus going back to the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. In 1999,

In 2014, this region had approximately 1.4 million new cases of HIV while 790,000 died of the infection. The Asian-Pacific area has less number of victims with HIV/AIDS (five million in 2014). The new infections that year were 340,000 with China, Indonesia, and India claiming 78% of the new infections in the region. The number of deaths caused by HIV was 240,000 which is an increase by 11% since the year 2000. The reason for the increase is lack of access to antiretroviral therapy. There is better news in Latin America: 1.7 million people are living with HIV. In 2014, there were 87,000 new infections and 41,000 deaths in that region. Western and Central Europe and North America region had 2.4 million HIV victims with an estimated 85,000 new diagnoses. The number of deaths was 26,000. Eastern Europe claimed 1.5 million victims, 140,000 newly diagnosed, and 62,000 deaths due to HIV related causes. The Caribbean region had 280,000 victims in 2014. Thirteen thousand were newly diagnosed and the region lost 8800 victims. In the same year, the Middle East and North Africa region had 240,000 people living with HIV, 22000 new infections, and 12,000 deaths (Joint United Nations Programmed on HIV and AIDS,

AIDS is potentially the most viral disease globally. Millions of individuals retrieve this virus every year, unaware of the effects that could possibly lead to mortality. Consequently, developing countries cannot afford these expensive vaccines to reduce the production of AIDS, resulting in an increase in death rates. There is still a shortage of experts in the field of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), for doctors are still hesitant in treating infected patients. Fauci (2003) argues that HIV replicates in the lymphoid tissue of all infected individuals. He states that if we attack this virus ahead of time, more individuals would have a lower chance of mortality. The ethical issues discussed in this paper affect the relationship between doctor-to-patient

A promising vaccine to combat HIV epidemic seems need to wait a lit bit longer since the desired result of HIV vaccine development in Iowa State University (ISU) found to be a fraudulent. Office of Research Integrity (ORI) and ISU found that the Dr. Dong-Pyou Han, former Research Assistant Professor, engaged in research misconduct in this research by intentionally spiked samples of rabbit sera with human antibody. 1-5 It falsified the result that a vaccine developed was protecting the rabbits against the HIV virus. 1-5 Due to this case, Dong-Pyou Han was not only forced to resign from ISU but also sentenced to 57 months in prison with fined US$ 7.2 million.

The most recent UNAIDS/WHO estimates show that, in 1999 alone, 5.4 million people were newly infected with HIV [9].

in 2012 with 2.3 (1.9–2.7) million new HIV infections globally according to this Joint United

HIV is a virus that is spread almost all over the world. Although in some places health care isn’t as developed and therefore it spreads more in those regions. Sub-Saharan Africa holds more than 70%, 25 million, of all HIV positive people in the world. Second highest is Eastern Europe together with Central Asia with 1.3 million. It is spread over most of the world, including Asia and the Pacific, the Caribbean, Central and South America, North Africa and the Middle East and Western and Central Europe (“The Regional Picture”).

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic has spread to every country in the world and has infected 59 million persons worldwide, including 20 million who have already died. CDC estimates that about 56,000 people in the United States contracted HIV in 2006 (1). HIV is the virus that leads to acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. In terms of fatalities, with more than 35 million deaths, the AIDS epidemic now ranks alongside the influenza pandemic of the early 1900s and the Bubonic plague of the fourteenth century(4).