Would you willingly get the flu for $3,000? | Open thread

The homemade flu remedy. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Guardian

Daniel Bennett’s mum imagined he was a bit daft for agreeing to catch the flu for scientific research. He’s 1 of about 100 individuals America’s National Institutes of Wellness (NIH) would like to infect with the flu in the up coming yr. The purpose is to greater realize human influenza and, hopefully, develop far more efficient prevention strategies and remedies.

The upside? Daniel will obtain about $ three,000 in compensation for his “work”.

The downside? He is holed up in quarantine for at least nine days and below the surveillance of researchers. Oh, and he gets a mild model of the H1N1 flu from a spray up his nose.

The NIH is nevertheless hunting for participants for the research. On their internet site, they listing qualifications this kind of as:
• Healthy individuals amongst the ages of 18 and 50
• Will not smoke
• Never share living room with any person over 65 or underneath 5
• Females of “childbearing potential” should agree to use successful contraception or abstain from sex for 4 weeks prior to enrolling and throughout the examine

The trial raises intriguing inquiries all around what we’ll do for funds, specially when it comes to willingly receiving sick as opposed to the many healthcare trials that aim to deal with these who are already ill. Interestingly, the NIH has not conducted this sort of influenza investigation on people in above a decade.

A pal mentioned that she would have gladly taken portion in a examine like this in her early 20s when she recovered speedily (anything Daniel mentioned in his reasoning for taking element) and she was not married with two young young children to get care of. Investing in excess of a week on quarantine simply does not function for folks with other folks who depend on them.

Of course, this isn’t a new phenomenon. Investigation universities about the globe do a variety of tests with human participants. Loads of undergraduate and graduate students in want of funds gladly take component. But most analysis pursuits only final a couple of hours, never come with huge side effects and pay $ a hundred or significantly less.

For the a lot more financially minded, the hefty payment for participating in the flu research seems excellent, until finally you consider that it functions out to about $ 13.89 an hour for nine days of 24-hour work and a assured headache. It’s a good deal much better than the US minimal wage, but is it excellent ample?

Would you willingly get the flu for $3,000? | Open thread