The Ethical Quandary of Human Infection Studies

November 19, 2018

(Scientific American) – Human infection studies like this one, also referred to as human challenge studies, in which scientists expose people to an infectious disease in order to study it or to test new drugs, have long taken place in wealthy nations where results can be carefully tracked and patients easily monitored. But now there is a push to carry them out on the ground in developing countries like Kenya, Mali, and Thailand, closer to suffering populations and real-world conditions.