GUATEMALA EXPERIMENTS 1946-1948 
II 
researcher and co-author on the publication later describing the work. 282 The 
Ministry of Public Health also supported the research. 
Serological testing began with schoolchildren in Port of San Jose, Guatemala, 
followed closely by children in the Orphanage. 283 Many of the 151 children tested 
in Port of San Jose exhibited symptoms of malaria. Indeed, Dr. Cutler later sent 
blood and blood smears from approximately 300 children to Dr. Willard Wright, 
Chief of the Division of Tropical Diseases at NIH, for the laboratory’s ongoing 
malaria study in Guatemala. 284 To Dr. Mahoney, Dr. Cutler relayed that treating 
the children for malaria was “to [the researchers’] advantage”: 
“In drawing blood from these children it is to our advantage to give 
them some medicine, for that reason we are planning to give them 
Aralen [an antimalarial drug] to treat the group found infected 
with malaria and at the same time we shall arrange for all of the 
children to receive a weekly prophylactic dose.” 285 
The researchers conducted clinical exams of the children’s mouths, skin, 
lymph nodes, and, in boys, the genitals. 286 Two children in the Port of San 
Jose were identified with congenital syphilis, one symptomatic and one 
asymptomatic. Other children with clear or ambiguous seropositive reac- 
tions never manifested further clinical symptoms. 287 Several months later, 
after compiling preliminary results on the children in the Port of San Jose, 
Dr. Cutler reported that “it is very evident to us that the cardiolipin test [i.e. 
the VDRL or Kolmer test] is much more nearly specific than the Kahn or 
Mazzini techniques [which utilized lipoidal antigens].” 288 
Serology research, including clinical examinations, in the Orphanage 
involved significantly more children, approximately 515. 289 In April 1948, 
the researchers presented preliminary serological findings at the Second 
Congress of Venereal Diseases in Central America held in Guatemala City, 
which Dr. Arnold also attended. 290 The Director of the Orphanage reviewed 
results and described the efforts taken within the institution to care for the 
children. 291 To the researchers, the children in the Orphanage made an ideal 
study population for many reasons. Most of the children had never had sexual 
contact, thereby preventing the sexual spreading of syphilis, the facility was 
in excellent condition, and the children were accustomed to routine medical 
examinations and treatment. The Orphanage also had a large, stable, and 
39 
