Latrogenic STD inoculation study

Susan M Reverby has unearthed a glaring example of unethical research, carried out by the United States Public Health Service and co-sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the Pan American Health Sanitary Bureau and the Guatemalan government in 1946-48 (1). In this study of the effectiveness of penicillin in syphilis and gonorrhoea, 700 Guatemalan nationals including prison inmates, mentally challenged people and military personnel were intentionally infected with various sexually transmitted diseases including syphilis and gonococcal infection. Prison inmates were allowed to have sex with syphilis-infected prostitutes paid by US health officials. There are no records on whether informed consent was obtained from the subjects participating in the trial.

Such studies are carried out very often in both developed and developing nations. The most widely discussed American research experiment that violated ethical codes was the Tuskegee study. This study consisted of observing the natural course of syphilis exclusively in African-Americans between 1932 and 1972, and continued even after penicillin was shown to be effective in treating this disease. The subjects of the study did not receive any treatment for their condition, were unaware of the nature of the experiment, and were misled about the nature and purpose of repeated painful and risky procedures, including lumbar punctures, for four long decades (2).The United States Public Health Service funded this research project, in part. Though the above study was never published, a few investigators have been able to get their papers published in indexed journals (3).

It would be interesting to know the future course of legal action against the investigators in the Guatemala trial. Perhaps such cases of gross unethical practice should be tried in the International Court of Law.