A CDC Epidemiologist Presents a Report to Congress That Suggests

question 55

Multiple Choice

A CDC epidemiologist presents a report to Congress that suggests it is more important to focus on funding for prevention/treatment of HIV infection research than on AIDS itself. Is she right or wrong, and why?

• A) She's wrong-AIDS is the stage of the illness that kills people. All funding should be directed towards preventing people from dying from AIDS.
• B) She's right-once people progress to AIDS, you really can't do much for them. We would be better off if we spent research money on preventing and treating HIV infection before it progresses to full-blown AIDS. All of the research money should be shifted to that aspect.
• C) She is right-but we can't completely ignore the end-stages of the illness. We would be better off spending money to find new ways to prevent new individuals from being infected, or by trying to keep people from progressing to the AIDS state once they are infected. However, we cannot completely abandon efforts to treat and prolong survival and quality of life in people who have progressed to the end stages of the illness.
• D) In reality, since only approximately 3% of the US population is infected with HIV, it makes far more sense to shift research spending to diseases that have more of an impact on the population (cancer, diabetes, etc.). If anything, both HIV and AIDS research funding should be cut dramatically.

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