Peter A. Clark

While avian influenza has a long history of reported outbreaks dating back to the nineteenth century, the 2024 outbreak presented a unique challenge: transmission among cattle. Officials grew concerned early because this was the first outbreak in history predominantly spreading among mammals, and because the outbreak has continued into 2025 with more mutations noted and more humans infected, the danger of pandemic-level evolution appears to be growing. This paper seeks to comprehensively analyze the current outbreak starting with the history and medical aspects of bird flu, including previous outbreaks, clinical features in humans, and methods of prevention. Next, we present the public health timeline of the current outbreak, highlighting critical milestones that suggest virus progression and exploring ways in which the US could have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. The financial implications of this outbreak domestically and globally are then evaluated to fully display the virus’s potential impact. Finally, we examine whether intervening on a virus that has infected less than 70 people and has killed only one is worth the potential harm using the principle of proportionate reason. This analysis informs our recommendations of increased communication, testing, transparent data sharing, vaccine research, and global surveillance to combat further damage.

After reaching historic lows decades ago, rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have surged since 2020. Health officials claim that the pandemic was responsible for igniting this rise, citing a halt in testing, treatment, and surveillance of STIs as isolation began, and resources were reallocated to address coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) issues. Others cite the overall shift in lawmaking since the early 2000s that has scaled back interventions geared toward controlling STI spread. Regardless of the root cause, this surge demands immediate attention due to the severe damage that these infections can cause, including infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease. In this paper, we examine this issue medically, socially, ethically, and from a public health perspective. The symptoms, treatments, complications, and testing strategies for syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia are analyzed while highlighting at-risk groups and discussing mitigation strategies. The social implications of this current crisis are then explored, reviewing what approaches have been made for this issue so far. Next, we ground this issue in the harm reduction theory to advocate for the ethics of our proposed interventions. We conclude with recommendations at the individual, community, and federal levels to help reverse the surge in STIs and prevent further harm.

The opioid epidemic in the United States has been an ever-increasing public health crisis. Despite being a major issue in the United States for decades, relatively little action has been taken to address the opioid crisis. To mitigate the harm the opioid epidemic has caused in the United States, safe injection sites have emerged as a promising solution. Despite the exhaustive benefits of safe injection sites, including the reduction in the number of opioid overdose deaths, safe injection sites have faced opposition in the United States. Most of these concerns in the United States question the legality of safe injection sites, along with potential community implications. Through examining the ethics of safe injection sites from a Catholic social teaching perspective and performing an integrative literature review, safe injection sites are clearly ethical and would aid in respecting the dignity and life of people who inject drugs (PWID). With safe injection sites being ethical and recommendations in this paper to overcome concerns about safe injection sites, safe injection sites are a viable option to combat the opioid crisis in the United States.

This paper aims to explain the importance of vaccinations and offer a critical analysis of how the anti-vaccine campaign has made traction through social media. The anti-vaccine movement has thrived on social media platforms as groups of parents, religious groups, and celebrities continue to attack vaccines for their perceived medical flaws and harmful side effects.

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Traditionally, medical care has had two mutually exclusive goals: either to cure disease and to prolong life or to provide comfort care. Given this dichotomy, the decision to focus on reducing suffering is made usually only after life-prolonging treatment has been ineffectual and death is imminent, usually by days or hours. As a result, one of the best kept secrets in a hospital today in the United States is palliative care and hospice care. We estimate that of the 2.4 million Americans that die each year, about 80% end their lives in hospitals attached to the latest advances in technology; 300,000 die at home under hospice care. The reasons why more people do not receive palliative or hospice care range from the patient’s fear of abandonment and the unknown, the family’s denial of the inevitability of death of their loved one, and physician’s denial of medicine’s limitations. Unless the options of palliative or hospice care are given to patients the fears that people have of dying--fear of dying alone and fear of dying in pain--will continue to make the dying process one that lacks dignity and respect. In this review article we have reviewed the state of palliative and hospice care in the United States through a historical, ethical and legal perspective. We have discussed its scope in the developing world and the potential challenges. Journal of Advances in Internal Medicine 2017;06(02):38-44.

The foreign-born population in the United States, according to the “Current Populations Report” published in 2010, is estimated to exceed 39.9 million, or “12.9 percent of the U.S. population.” The increase in foreign-born peoples and their n...

The need for clean water has risen exponentially over the globe. Millions of people are affected daily by a lack of clean water, especially women and children, as much of their day is dedicated to collecting water. The global water crisis not only has severe medical implications, but social, political, and economic consequences as well. The Institute of Catholic Bioethics at Saint Joseph’s University has recognized this, and has designed a slow-sand water filter that is accessible, cost-effective, and sustainable. Through the implementation of the Institute’s slow-sand water filter and the utilization of microfinancing services, developing countries will not only have access to clean, drinkable water, but will also have the opportunity to break out of a devastating cycle of poverty.

Marijuana is classified by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as an illegal Schedule I drug which has no accepted medical use. However, recent studies have shown that medical marijuana is effective in controlling chronic non-cancer pain, alleviating nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy, treating wasting syndrome associated with AIDS, and controlling muscle spasms due to multiple sclerosis. These studies state that the alleviating benefits of marijuana outweigh the negative effects of the drug, and recommend that marijuana be administered to patients who have failed to respond to other therapies. Despite supporting evidence, the DEA refuses to reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug, which would allow physicians to prescribe marijuana to suffering patients. The use of medical marijuana has continued to gain support among states, and is currently legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia. This is in stark contrast to the federal government’s stance of zero-tolerance, which has led to a heated legal debate in the United States. After reviewing relevant scientific data and grounding the issue in ethical principles like beneficence and nonmaleficence, there is a strong argument for allowing physicians to prescribe marijuana. Patients have a right to all beneficial treatments and to deny them this right violates their basic human rights.