Overview
Decades after the Tuskegee study began, it was discovered that U.S. Public Health Service researchers conducted even more aggressive experiments in Guatemala. Between 1946 and 1948, researchers deliberately infected approximately 1,300 people—including prisoners, soldiers, and psychiatric patients—with syphilis, gonorrhea, and chancroid.
Methodology
Unlike Tuskegee, where treatment was simply withheld, the Guatemala study involved active infection. Researchers used prostitutes to spread the disease to prisoners, and in other cases, injected the bacteria directly into the subjects' eyes, skin, or central nervous systems.
Discovery and Apology
The experiment remained hidden until 2010, when Professor Susan Reverby uncovered the records in the archives of Dr. John Charles Cutler (who also worked on the Tuskegee study). The discovery led to a formal apology from President Barack Obama to the government and people of Guatemala.