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. 2020 Nov 20;12(1):98.
doi: 10.1186/s13073-020-00800-y.

Transparency, trust, and community welfare: towards a precision public health ethics framework for the genomics era

Eric T Juengst  1 , Annelies Van Rie  2
Affiliations

Transparency, trust, and community welfare: towards a precision public health ethics framework for the genomics era

Eric T Juengst et al. Genome Med. .

Abstract

Infectious disease control is experiencing a paradigm shift, as pathogen sequencing technologies and digital applications are increasingly implemented for control of diseases such as tuberculosis, Ebola, and COVID-19. A new ethical framework should be a critical part of this emerging paradigm to ensure that the benefit of precision public health interventions based on advances in genomics research is not outweighed by the risks they pose to individuals, families, and vulnerable segments of the population. We suggest that the ethical framework guiding practice in this domain combines standard precepts from public health ethics with emerging ethics principles from precision medicine.

Keywords: Ethics; Genomic epidemiology; Pathogen sequencing; Precision public health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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