Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment

by Kevin C. Pyle

http://wovoca.com/hidden-history-secret-government-experiments.htm

Syphilis: Highly contagious disease caused by the spirochete Treponema pallidum. Disease may be acquired or congenital. In acquired syphilis, T. Pallidum enters the body through skin or mucous membranes, usually during sexual contact. Congenital syphilis is transmitted to the fetus from the infected mother when the spirochete penetrates the placenta.

Syphilis is a systemic disease, involving tissues throughout the body. After initial penetration, the spirochetes multiply rapidly. First they enter the lymph capillaries where they are transported to the nearest lymph gland. There they multiply and are released into the blood stream. Within days the spirochetes invade every part of the body. Three stages mark the progression of the disease; primary, secondary, and tertiary.

Primary Stage: 10-60 days after infection. Primary lesion usually appears at point of contact, usually genitals. Typically a painless, slightly elevated, round ulcer, the chancre may be so small as to elude detection. Barring secondary infection, chancre will heal without treatment within 30-60 days leaving a scar the persists for several months.

Secondary Stage: 6 weeks to 6 months. Appearance of rash resembling measles, chicken pox, or any number of skin eruptions. Pain in bones and joints and cardiac palpitations may develop. Fever, indigestion, headaches may accompany rash. In some cases, highly infectious, spirochete-laden ulcers may appear in mouth. Scalp hair may drop out in patches, creating "moth-eaten" appearance.

Tertiary Stage: Appearance of gummy or rubbery tumors, resulting from spirochete concentration in body tissue. On the skin, these often coalesce into large, encrusted ulcers consisting of several layers of dry, exuded matter. Tumors may be absorbed, leaving slight, scarred depressions, or may cause wholesale destruction of bone resulting in mutilation when nasal and palate bones are eaten away.

The presence of T. Pallidum in cerebrospinal may cause neurosyphilis, which may take several forms, including general softening of the brain, resulting in paralysis and insanity, as well as Tabes dorsalis, a degeneration of the spinal cord, causing a stumbling, foot-stamping gait. Can also cause irreversible blindness, or the 8th cranial nerve, inflicting permanent deafness.

Tumors may also attack and weaken the walls of heart or blood vessels. Heart valves may no longer open and close properly, resulting in leakage. The stretching vessel walls may produce an aortic aneurysm, a balloonlike bulge. If the bulge bursts, as often is the case, the result is sudden death.

In 1932 the United States Public Health Service (PHASE), in cooperation with the Tuskegee Institute, initiated a study in Macon County, Alabama to determine the effects of untreated syphilis. The study would last until 1970 and follow 399 black men diagnosed with syphilis.

In order to ensure that they would not be treated, which became increasingly difficult with the discovery and widespread use of penicillin after 1943, local physicians, draft boards and PHS venereal disease eradication programs were given a list of the "subjects."

The men, the most educated of whom completed 7th grade, were told they were being treated for "bad blood," a term the white doctors claimed was a synonym for syphilis in the black community. One participant responded, "That could be true. But I have never heard no such thing."

In reality, the only treatment the men received was aspirin (what the doctors chose to call "pink medicine") and an iron supplement. Having previously encountered little or no health care, the participants were delighted. "They were always glad to see us," one doctor recalled, explaining how the men showed their gratitude by giving the "government doctors" gifts. "They brought cornbread, cookies, whatever they could make, and they were very, very pleased if you ate it -- most pleased."

In order to chart the progression of the disease, the subjects were frequently, under the guise of treatment, required to give blood samples. They also were subjected to a procedure known as the "lumbar puncture" to diagnose neural syphilis.

To obtain a sample of fluid, a large needle was inserted directly into the spinal canal. This procedure was painful, and patients often suffered severe headaches. In rare cases, it can result in paralysis or even death.

Fearing word of "Dr. Vonderlehr's golden needle treatments," as the doctors referred to it, would discourage participation, whole regions were done at a time, and letters were sent out promising "Special Free Treatment" and warning "Last Chance for Special Examination."

Other inducements were free hot meals, the illusion of free medical care, an award certificate signed by the surgeon general, and a $50 burial stipend. For people living below the poverty line, a third of whom lived in shacks without plumbing, these were no small rewards.

The burial stipend was created as a solution to the problem of obtaining permission for autopsies, an important part of the study. Local doctors were relied upon to contact PHS in the event of death of a subject. This system worked well because the doctors were so honored to be participating in a national study.

Due to media exposure, the study was halted in 1970. By that time, at least 28 and perhaps as many as 100 had died as a direct result of complications caused by syphilis.

In December of 1974, the government agreed to pay approximately $10 million in an out of court settlement: $37,500 per participant. A year earlier, it had offered free medical care to the surviving participants and their families, many of whom had contracted the disease congenitally.

For obvious reasons, the survivors preferred compensatory funds with which to hire their own physicians.

See also: Nuremberg Code of Ethics (Human Experimentation)

RESOURCES

Miss Evers Boys (Video with Alfre Woodard and Lawrence Fishburne)

Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment by James H. Jones

Tuskegee Syphilis Study by Fred Gray

The Black-White Test Score Gap by Jencks and Phillips

Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth and Social Policy in America by Dalton Conley

Kinship: A Family's Journey in Africa and America by Philippe E. Wamba

National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" Discussion of the Tuskegee Studies

Kevin C. Pyle's Original Work: Pink Medicine (Site currently inoperative)