Microbiology is a health science discipline associated with the study of microscopic organisms such as fungi, bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. Being a key specialty in biological research and clinical services, it involves human beings as participants or patients. Therefore, clinical and research ethics is highly required for microbiology professionals. The ethical issues facing microbiology mainly relate to the work process of microbiologist and the community/product end of the microbiologists, that is the community served.
The codes of ethics and guidelines include; The American Society for Microbiology code of ethics which emphasizes the promotion of human welfare, Integrity in all activities by the members and on the accumulation of knowledge. Nuffield Council on Bioethics (Infectious Disease) provides guidelines on the collection of data, categorically stating that anonymized data can be collected and used without consent to assess and predict infectious diseases’ trends. It also allows for the collection of non-anonymised data about people without their permission if it helps avoid future harm. The guidelines also touch on the control of infectious diseases through quarantine and isolation, stating that they are only allowed where the risk of harm is high (Desikan, Muthuswamy, & Chakrabarti, 2011) . WHO Operational guidelines for ethics committees that review biomedical research, The WHO Handbook for Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) endorses good laboratory practices that can be accepted worldwide and are scientifically and ethically sound.
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When reviewing any scientific findings, understanding if ethics were applied and the necessary guidelines were followed would include taking a look at the data collection methods to check on the protection of research participants, informed consent and ethics in the storage of biological material. Also, research ethics should be observed in any scientific findings this include; ethical review of protocols, possible deviation from protocols, process documentation, and publication as well as good laboratory practices.
A scenario where ethics in microbiology would be necessary is in the case of a viral disease outbreak, e.g., in the case of Ebola. Ethical issues need to be addressed in all epidemiological research, infectivity studies and clinical trials.
References
Desikan, P., Muthuswamy, V., & Chakrabarti, A. (2011). Ethical issues in microbiology. Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology , 29 (4), 327. doi:10.4103/0255-0857.90154
