Untreated Syphilis Study

This essay examines the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, wherein for 40 years (1932-1972) hundreds of black men suffering from advanced syphilis were studied but not treated. The 40-year study was controversial for reasons related to ethical standards; primarily because researchers knowingly failed to treat patients appropriately after the 1940s validation of penicillin as an effective cure for the disease they were studying. To explore the role of the racism in the controversial study, this essay analyzes the article written by Allan M. Brandt.

The Tuskegee Syphilis experiment (The official name was Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male) began in the 1930’s. It was an experiment on African Americans to study syphilis and how it affected the body and killed its victims done by Tuskegee Institute U.S. Public Health Service researchers. The initial purpose of the Syphilis study “was to record the natural history of syphilis in Blacks” (Tuskegee University, “About the USPHS Syphilis Study,” par. 2). The study was necessary because syphilis was a disease that didn’t yet have an official cure (when the study began in the 30’s). There were 600 men in all; 399 had syphilis and 201 served as a control group for the experiment. The

In Macon County, Alabama, about 40% of African Americans had syphilis. Syphilis caused by a spirochete bacterium that is contracted sexually. In the 1930’s it had relatively no cures or treatments. Syphilis progresses into three stages, the last of which begins to attack the several organ systems of the individual. The victim may become paralyzed, blind and/or deaf; develop heart problems or a mental illness, or other symptoms (Gray 37-38). They decided that they wanted to compare and contrast how blacks and whites develop the disease and the effects on each race. Years before the study of the Negro was set to begin, a similar study for whites was conducted in Oslo, Norway. This study was a retrospective look into the effects of untreated syphilis in whites. The retrospective study used case histories of those who had syphilis when they died not living patients. The U.S. Public Health Service decided to use African Americans in Macon County in the experiment. Originally titled “The Effects of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” the experimentations took place at the Tuskegee Institute which is why the study is generally named the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (Jones 93-94). The Rosenwald Fund, a foundation that funded many programs that were used in the betterment of African-Americans began funding this project. After the Stock Market crash of 1929, and the start of the Great Depression, the Rosenwald Fund has to withdraw all the funds that they

According the to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was conducted in 1932 by the Public Health, which included 600 black men as their test subjects. Of the 600 men, 399 had syphilis and 201 didn’t (CDC). The men were told that they were being treated for “Bad Blood” and didn’t have any knowledge of being included in a study (CDC). In exchange for their services, researchers offered the men free medical exams, burial insurance, and free meals (CDC). The study was called “ The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” (CDC).

In 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) initiated a study entitled the “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male” in Macon County, Alabama to record the natural course of latent, untreated syphilis in Black males and explore treatment possibilities (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2017). Macon County, Alabama, in which the town of Tuskegee is located, was selected as the location of this study because earlier studies conducted in the rural South by the USPHS to determine the prevalence of syphilis among Blacks found this county to have the highest syphilis rate of the six counties surveyed (Brandt, 1978).

The book BAD BLOOD: THE TUSKEGEE SYPHILIS EXPERIMENT by James H. Jones was a very powerful compilation of years of astounding research, numerous interviews, and some very interesting positions on the ethical and moral issues associated with the study of human beings under the Public Health Service (PHS). "The Tuskegee study had nothing to do with treatment … it was a nontherapeutic experiment, aimed at compiling data on the effects of the spontaneous evolution of syphilis in black males" (Jones pg. 2). Jones is very opinionated throughout the book; however, he carefully documents the foundation of those opinions with quotes from letters and medical journals.

In 1932, in the area surrounding Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama, the United States Public Health Service (PHS) and the Rosenwald Foundation began a survey and small treatment program for African-Americans with syphilis. Within a few months, the deepening depression, the lack of funds from the foundation, and the large number of untreated cases provided the government’s researchers with what seemed to be an unprecedented opportunity to study a seemingly almost “natural” experimentation of latent syphilis in African-American men. What had begun as a “treatment” program thus was converted by the PHS researchers, under the imprimatur of the Surgeon General and with knowledge and consent of the President of Tuskegee Institute, the medical

In 1932 it was believed that the high mortality rate and high rate of disease amongst African Americans was proof of biological inferiority and that these diseases would spread to the white community, instilling fear amongst the public and thus giving rise to the U.S. Public Heath Service (USPHS) funded Tuskegee Study (Sargent 1997). The experiment consisted of 399 men with syphilis and 201 men in a control group (CDC 2016). All men with syphilis in the study had latent late syphilis, very serious form that can arise 10-30 years after initial infection (CDC 2016). Tuskegee was chosen as it was an all black hospital, and Macon County, Alabama has the highest rate of syphilis in the country (35%) (Sargent 1997). The study was justified as a “study in nature” due to the high rate of syphilis present and the probability of most of the subjects going untreated regardless (Brandt

The book, Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, by James H. Jones, was one of the most influential books in today’s society. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment study began in 1932 and was terminated in 1972. This book reflects the history of African Americans in the mistrust of the health care system. According to Colin A. Palmer, “James H. Jones disturbing, but enlightening Bad Blood details an appalling instance of scientific deception. This dispassionate book discusses the Tuskegee experiment, when a group of physicians used poor black men as the subjects in a study of the effects of untreated syphilis on the human body”(1982, p. 229). In addition, the author mentioned several indications of discrimination, prejudice, and stereotype toward this population. Also, this book provides multiple incidents of the maltreatment of human beings. The reader is able to identify the incompetence of the helping professions and violation of human rights, ethical issues, and dehumanize African Americans.

In the Tuskegee syphilis study that was conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) beginning in 1932 in Tuskegee, Alabama 600 low income African American males 400 of them affected with syphilis were monitored until around 1973. Medical examinations were given but the subjects were not told about the disease and even at a time where a proven cure (penicillin) became available in the 1960s, the study continued. The participants themselves were denied treatment and in some cases when subjects were diagnosed as having syphilis from other Physicians, researchers intervened to prevent treatment of the research subject. Many of the research subjects died of syphilis during the study. The study stopped in 1973 by the Department of Health

The video is about an unethical non- therapeutic experiment on a human being about the syphilis. The United States Public Health Service decided to study untreated syphilis disease in some African American male people in Tuskegee in Alabama. The black males were misled that they had a bad blood and they could have treatment for that. They enforced to participate in the study without having proper information and having consent. They did not receive any an appropriate treatment even when penicillin was an available therapy for everyone that had this disease.

When one hears the medical condition “syphilis,” the thoughts of unprotected sex comes to mind. Today, syphilis (and other common sexually transmitted infections) is taught in schools in the topic of sex education. Presently, we know syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; (but it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth). Syphilis is known to be one of the more serious infections and fear of being infected is present. It is also commonly known that the diagnosis takes all but a simple blood test. So to avoid contracting this infection, sexually active individuals are advised by the State Health Department to always practice safe sex by simply using a condom (or of the like). Nonetheless, syphilis was not such an easily understandable infection at the time of antiquity. Not only was it not understood, but there ranged from sensible to crazed theories and treatments of the infection.

Skin rashes and sores in your mouth, vagina, or anus may occur at this stage. Typically starts with a rash on areas of your body. Other

Thank you so much for the informative discussion post. I especially like the way you explained the signs and symptoms. This is because syphilis has many nonspecific signs and symptoms that may be overlooked by the inexperienced nurse practitioner (NP), or may basically be indistinguishable from other more common diseases (Klein, McLaud & Rogers, 2015).). It is very important that Nurse Practitioner gets familiarize with the different faces that syphilis may present because undiagnosed and untreated syphilis may lead to life-threatening complications such as hepatitis, stroke, and nervous system damage (Klein, McLaud & Rogers, 2015).

Let me start off by saying that I am completely speechless about this experiment. However, I am not surprised due to this being a time frame from 1932 to 1972 in Macon County, Alabama. In 1932, African-Americans were labeled as non-humans beings, so they targeted this population. This population was targeted because they were poor and illiterate. This experiment never told the African-American candidates that they would be participating in a study of untreated Syphilis. This experiment was introduced to African-Americans as being treated for “bad blood.” However, they were never properly treated for the disease, but treated as nothing. They wanted to see what the Syphilis disease would do in the “Negro” body from start to death.