After almost 80 years after its occurrence, the United States officially apologized for their involvement in the infamous Guatemala Syphilis experiment. It was an American research project aimed to test the capabilities of penicillin and how it could treat or affect an array of STDs. Guatemalans were intentionally infected with syphilis, gonorrhea, and chancroid without their knowledge or consent. The Guatemala Syphilis Experiment is considered one of the darker episodes in medical history, even by the context of the era. The Guatemala Syphilis Experiment was justifiable by no means.
All Guatemalan subjects were enrolled in the experiments without valid informed consent or compensation, showing no regard for human rights. A total of 5,500 …show more content…
Researches took advantage of the legal prostitution in Guatemala. Syphilis exposure occurred by the injection of the disease through the cervix of a sex worker, then passed on to direct sexual contact. This was called “natural exposure”, where infected sex workers infected with syphilis would transmit the disease to unsuspecting prisoners. Just like the Terre Haute study, researchers failed to meet its goals because of difficulties with establishing the infection in subjects. As a result researcher went beyond “natural exposure” and used other more invasive and barbaric methods. Cisternal punctures were used by the insertion of a needle below the occipital bone at the back of the skull to access cerebrospinal fluid. Other forms of infecting subjects included injection through abrasion of the penis, oral ingestion in psychiatric patients, and direct injection into any mucous membranes (Shocking New Details of US STD Experiments in Guatemala). Researchers would remove syphilitic growths off testicles of infected rabbits or scraping the penile chancres of infected men, from which they had to isolate the spirochete that causes syphilis. This was difficult, because the spirochete could not survive more than 45 to 90 minutes …show more content…
In the US Army during World War I they were the second most common reason for disability and absence from duty, being responsible for nearly 7 million lost person-days and the discharge of more than 10,000 men. During World War II between 1941 and 1945 the annual incidence of STD’s in the US Army was 43 per 1,000 strength. (Syphilis – Its Early History and Treatment until Penicillin and the Debate on Its Origins.) Not much was know about penicillin, and its discovery was fairly recent in medical terms. The U.S. military did began using penicillin as a means of post-STD-exposure treatment. But, it was unclear whether penicillin provided long-term preventive protection and whether it could be used in a similar manner for other STDs. Scientists were also interested in testing the preventative ability of other agents, including orvus-mapharsen, which could be applied as a foaming wash after exposure of an STD. (Guatemala Syphilis Experiment | American Medical Research Project.) Therefore the Guatemala Experiment was proposed and, since impact of gonorrhoea and syphilis on military personnel in terms of morbidity and mortality reduced after 1943 due to the introduction of
All Guatemalan subjects were enrolled in the experiments without valid informed consent or compensation, showing no regard for human rights. A total of 5,500 …show more content…
Researches took advantage of the legal prostitution in Guatemala. Syphilis exposure occurred by the injection of the disease through the cervix of a sex worker, then passed on to direct sexual contact. This was called “natural exposure”, where infected sex workers infected with syphilis would transmit the disease to unsuspecting prisoners. Just like the Terre Haute study, researchers failed to meet its goals because of difficulties with establishing the infection in subjects. As a result researcher went beyond “natural exposure” and used other more invasive and barbaric methods. Cisternal punctures were used by the insertion of a needle below the occipital bone at the back of the skull to access cerebrospinal fluid. Other forms of infecting subjects included injection through abrasion of the penis, oral ingestion in psychiatric patients, and direct injection into any mucous membranes (Shocking New Details of US STD Experiments in Guatemala). Researchers would remove syphilitic growths off testicles of infected rabbits or scraping the penile chancres of infected men, from which they had to isolate the spirochete that causes syphilis. This was difficult, because the spirochete could not survive more than 45 to 90 minutes …show more content…
In the US Army during World War I they were the second most common reason for disability and absence from duty, being responsible for nearly 7 million lost person-days and the discharge of more than 10,000 men. During World War II between 1941 and 1945 the annual incidence of STD’s in the US Army was 43 per 1,000 strength. (Syphilis – Its Early History and Treatment until Penicillin and the Debate on Its Origins.) Not much was know about penicillin, and its discovery was fairly recent in medical terms. The U.S. military did began using penicillin as a means of post-STD-exposure treatment. But, it was unclear whether penicillin provided long-term preventive protection and whether it could be used in a similar manner for other STDs. Scientists were also interested in testing the preventative ability of other agents, including orvus-mapharsen, which could be applied as a foaming wash after exposure of an STD. (Guatemala Syphilis Experiment | American Medical Research Project.) Therefore the Guatemala Experiment was proposed and, since impact of gonorrhoea and syphilis on military personnel in terms of morbidity and mortality reduced after 1943 due to the introduction of