“ETHICALLY IMPOSSIBLE” STD Research in Guatemala from 1946-1948 
Guatemalan Army 
PATIENT PROFILE: MARIO 
Mario was a soldier in the 
Guatemalan Army’s Honor Guard. 
His age was not recorded. 
In March 1947 Mario was one of the 
soldiers who had sexual contact with 
commercial sex workers who had 
been inoculated with gonorrhea; he 
was then given a placebo treatment 
of 0.1 cc sterile distilled water. 
On October 23, 1948, researchers 
applied cultured chancroid material 
to scratches on Mario’s arms and 
shoulder. Mario’s right arm was then 
washed with orvus-mapharsen for 
30 seconds; his left was washed 
with the standard U.S. Army pro kit. 
The next day, all three sites were 
swollen and indurated. Mario was 
treated with sulfathiazole ointment 
for five days. 
enough to draw blood. 553 Dr. Tejeda made 
the right arm scratch, Dr. Levitan made the left arm scratch, and Dr. Maza 
scratched the shoulder 554 (see Appendix II). After the scratches were made, 
O.Olcc of chancroidal inoculum “was placed on the abraided [sic] area and gently 
rubbed in by the flat surface of another needle.” 555 After one, two, or four hours, 
the different prophylaxes were applied. Dr. Cutler noted in his Chancroid Exper- 
iment report that the researchers also took “moving pictures of patients with 
chancroid inoculation.” 556 
In October 1948, the researchers began 
testing the orvus-mapharsen prophylaxis 
for prevention of chancroidal infection 
in the Guatemalan Army. 550 Dr. Cutler 
had discussed this work with Dr. Tejeda 
in August and received approval to start 
work on chancroid as soon as the cultured 
material was available. For the rest of the 
soldiers, the researchers compared the orvus- 
mapharsen prophylaxis to the standard U.S. 
Army pro kit with 81 soldiers, all of whom 
were then treated. 551 They inoculated each 
soldier in three sites simultaneously: on two 
of the sites they tested a prophylaxis, and on 
one site they did not apply a prophylaxis so 
the subject could serve as his own control. 552 
To infect the men, half-inch scratches were 
made by a hypodermic needle, just deep 
Winding Down the Guatemala Experiments 
Extension of the Grant 
As the date of the Guatemala grant expiration approached, Dr. Cutler began to 
address what would happen to both the work and the facilities after his depar- 
ture. He focused on ensuring that there would be sufficient time and money 
to complete the ongoing research and follow up. Dr. Mahoney’s letters, on the 
other hand, focused on an orderly winding down of the “terminal phases of the 
Guatemala study.” 557 
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