Two official investigations have begun into an unpublished study from the 1940s in which a US researcher deliberately infected Guatemalan prisoners and soldiers with syphilis and gonorrhoea. Both were ordered last November by President Barack Obama after the study came to light through investigations by Susan Reverby of Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
The president apologised to the Guatemalan people in October after Reverby revealed that the late John Cutler, a US public health service medical officer, conducted a study between 1946 and 1948 on soldiers and prisoners in Guatemala in which he tried to infect the men by exposing them to prostitutes already infected with gonorrhoea or syphilis.
When few men became infected this way, Cutler and his colleagues tried to infect them by inoculations into their urethras, through skin injections or exposing the foreskin to infectious material. Around 1500 study subjects were involved, and none was told of the purpose of the study or asked for his consent.
The president apologised to the Guatemalan people in October after Reverby revealed that the late John Cutler, a US public health service medical officer, conducted a study between 1946 and 1948 on soldiers and prisoners in Guatemala in which he tried to infect the men by exposing them to prostitutes already infected with gonorrhoea or syphilis.
When few men became infected this way, Cutler and his colleagues tried to infect them by inoculations into their urethras, through skin injections or exposing the foreskin to infectious material. Around 1500 study subjects were involved, and none was told of the purpose of the study or asked for his consent.
