Guatemalans 'died' in 1940s US syphilis study
Hundreds of people were infected with syphilis bacteria during the experiments
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At least 83 Guatemalans are thought to have died not long after being deliberately infected with syphilis and gonorrhoea in the 1940s, a presidential commission in Washington has heard.
US government scientists infected hundreds of Guatemalan prisoners, psychiatric patients and sex workers to study the effects of penicillin.
None of those infected consented.
Guatemala's vice-president said an apology would be made to the people, as local doctors were also involved.
The head of the commission, Amy Gutmann, called the research a "shameful piece of medical history".
The Presidential Commission for the study of Bioethical Issues said some 5,500 Guatemalans were involved in all the research that took place between 1946 and 1948.
Of these, some 1,300 were deliberately infected with syphilis, gonorrhoea or another sexually transmitted disease, chancroid.
And of that group only approximately 700 received some sort of treatment.
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“
Start Quote
Civilisations can be judged by the way they treat their most vulnerable... We failed to keep that covenant"”
Dr Amy Gutmann
Chair of the Commission
According to documents the commission had studied, at least 83 of the 5,500 subjects had died by the end of 1953.
vietnam holidaysStephen Pierce
