GUATEMALA EXPERIMENTS 1946-1948 
II 
“duration of coitus” in the “culture group” involved in the Guatemalan 
Army experiments: 
“The average length of exposure of this culture group to a prostitute 
is very short, according to experience of military physicians of the 
country so that it seems that the experimental group probably did 
not experience an unusually short period of contact as a result of 
the experimental conditions. With longer periods of sexual fore 
play and sexual intercourse it is probable that there would be an 
increased flow of vaginal and cervical secretions. Theoretically this 
might bring greater quantities of the organism into contact with 
the male urethra and for a longer period of time. In view of the 
fact that the duration of coitus does vary in different cultural and 
socio-economic groups this factor may possibly play a part as one 
of the variable determinants of the rate of infection.” 570 
In the 1930s, U.S. researchers also speculated that syphilis affected some 
Latin Americans differently from Caucasian North Americans or Europeans 
and that “clinical lesions of syphilis found in the Central American Indian 
and the Mixture of Indian-European or Indian-European-Negro are different 
from those found in the white European.” 571 Some physicians believed that 
syphilis originated in Central America, leading the indigenous population 
to acquire immunity to it. 572 Just as U.S. researchers linked high rates of 
syphilis in African Americans with sexual promiscuity, W. Curth’s Syphilis in 
the Highlands of Guatemala concludes: 
“Sanitation is primitive in these towns and villages and most of 
the Ladinos and Indians alike live in extreme simplicity. Over- 
indulgence in alcoholic liquors is common among the men of both 
races. Sexual promiscuity is said to be very prevalent among the 
Ladinos [Tndian-Spanish crosses’], whereas, we were informed on 
good authority that the Mayan Indians preserve a remarkably pure 
family life when at home but that their sexual life on the planta- 
tions is apt to be lax.” 573 
Dr. Cutler mentioned in his Final Syphilis Report that he did not have access 
to ethnological information regarding their subjects, although he believed 
Guatemala City to be “approximately 85% Indian...” 574 He added that “it was 
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