Infectious Disease Challenge Studies: Ethical Issues in Causing Disease for Medical Knowledge

Infectious Disease "challenge" studies are ones in which healthy participants are intentionally infected with pathogens in order to investigate the cause, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases- but are they ethical? These studies, while useful, pose ethical concerns, and numerous criteria must be met for an infectious challenge to be ethically permissible.

Read this whitepaper to learn more about ethical concerns as well as the biosafety considerations when conducting infectious disease challenge studies.