I chose to discuss an article that shows some positive
research and how they want to make sure it is ethically performed on the
subject. It was interesting to find out a baby girl, at the time of first
treatment was diagnosed with HIV. Doctors gave her “unusually aggressive and early
treatment within 30 hours of her birth and she was free of the virus for 27
months” (Brown, 2014, para. 1-6), which made the disease disappear. This was
quite exciting for the researchers –I am sure. Unfortunately, it came back, due
to the little girl not receiving therapy for years. At age 4, the little girl
from Mississippi was retested by Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Disease and decided to continue research for a cure.
Her mom decided to take her out of the treatments but eventually
the disease resurfaced after a couple years. Researchers could not record data
so no one knows if they could have kept the little free of the disease because
the mom stopped the treatments only to bring her back later. They chose to put
her back on the antiviral drugs. After beginning the treatments, it looked as
if the disease was going back down. Dr. Fauci (2014) notates they will ethically
come up with a design of study that will benefit her and future babies” (para.
10). In my opinion, the benefits outweigh the risk because they will make sure
the child is not subject to cruel treatments and it is keeping her, hopefully
from suffering -like most patients with this disease. In addition, it will be
that much closer for researchers to finally come up with a positive outcome to
a terrible plague.
Reference
Brown, Jeffrey. (2014,
July 11). PBS Hour: HIV rebound in young
child is ‘another step’ in long process of AIDs research. Retrieved July
18, 2014, from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/hiv-rebound-in-young-child-is-another-step-in-long-process-of-research/#transcript
This was an amazing story. A great testament to why research is important to families and children. NAEYC discusses why research is important to families and children. Thanks for you post - very interesting
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I really like this post! This is why research is done for sure. very interesting, indeed. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting that the mother chose to stop bringing her daughter in for treatment, yet brought her back a year later. I wonder if this could be considered negligent in any way? There is so much information that we don't know about diseases like HIV and cancer, and I know that there are researchers out there searching for cures, but it is hard to see families lose children every day.
ReplyDeleteThanks for opening my eyes to this subject!
Machaela
A truly uplifting story of help and hope for one child and her family. It is only a pity that the mom removed the little girl from the treatment program for such a long time. However it seem as if she came back in time to still get help Research is so important, that is why we as early childhood professionals we have to stay abreast of new knowledge and research findings especially as they relate to childhood issues. Thank you for sharing, a great post Nakita!
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