ETHICALLY IMPOSSIBLE” STD Research in Guatemala from 1946-1948 
623 
624 
625 
626 
627 
628 
629 
630 
631 
632 
633 
634 
635 
636 
637 
638 
639 
640 
John Mahoney to John Cutler. (1948, July 26). Correspondence. PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR 0001157. 
John Cutler to Fred L. Soper, forwarded by William J. McAnally, Jr. (1948, August 27). Correspondence. 
PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR_0001 183. 
John Cutler to John Mahoney, forwarded by William J. McAnally, Jr. (1948, August 26). Correspondence. 
PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR 0001162; Juan M. Funes Personnel Files. (1948, December 10). PCSBI 
HSPI Archives, NPRC_0000807. 
Ibid. 
Report on Serologic Follow-up on Patients Done at CDC in 1953, Samples sent from Guatemala, (n.d.). 
PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR_0001466. 
Ibid, PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR 0001433-76. These numbers are rough as there are data missing for 
many patients, which makes an exact count impossible (e.g., for some patients only the patient number 
[without a name] is included; as there are several patients with the same number it is impossible to tell 
whether it is the same patient being tested twice or two different patients). 
See, e.g., Report on Serologic Follow-up on Patients Done at CDC in 1953, Samples sent from Guatemala, 
(n.d.). PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR_0001436. 
This is the latest date for which there is evidence of samples sent to the VDRL at Chamblee, Georgia. 
Levitan, S., et al. (1952). Op. cit, pp. 379-387. 
John Cutler. (1950, September 1). Summary Report of the WHO Venereal Disease Demonstration Team in 
India, PCSBI HSPI Archives, MISC_0000426. 
John Cutler, Curriculum Vitae. (1990, February). PCSBI HSPI Archives, UOFM 0000021. 
John Cutler, (n.d.). Chancroid Experiment, Report. PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR 0001003. 
E.g., the country in which the experiment was conducted and the physicians involved. John Cutler. (1952, 
October 29). Experimental Studies in Gonorrhea. Report. PCSBI Archives, CTLR 0001278-79. 
John Cutler. (1955, February 24). Final Syphilis Report. PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR 0000632. 
Aragon, H.A., (1948, October). Estudio de la sifilis y pruebas de la serologia en el Hospicio Nacional de 
Guatemala. Salubridad y Asistencia; Stout, G.W., Cutler, J.C. (1951). Op cit., pp. 238-239; Levitan, S., et al. 
(1952, July). Op cit.; Funes, J.M., et al., (1953). Op cit., pp. 14-18; Portnoy, J., Galvez, R., Cutler, J.C. (1952). 
Op cit., pp. 566-570; Falcone, V.H., Harris, A., Olansky, S., Salvado, C., Cutler, J.C. (1953). Op cit. 
Cutler, J.C., et al. (1972, February). Studies on development of a vaginal preparation providing both 
prophylaxis against venereal disease, other genital infections, and contraception. I. Venereal disease 
prophylaxis, past experience, present status and plans for future studies. Military Medicine 138(2):89; 
Cutler, J.C. (1989, June). Op cit., p. 63. 
For example, Cutler cites a Funes orvus-mapharsen study on sex workers as support for the statement 
that “the male’s risk for [gonorrheal] infection through vaginal contact was only one in 20 contacts” in 
several of his articles. See e.g., Cutler, J.C., (1989, June). Op cit., pp. 60-61. This Funes study, however, did 
not include data from male contacts and just followed the rate of infection of the sex workers. Funes, J., 
Aguilar, C.L. (1952 agosto). La solucion de mafarside-orvus en la profilaxis de la blenorragia de la mujer. 
Boletln de la Oficina Sanitaria Panamericana 33(2):121-125. The Studies in Gonorrhea Report does draw 
this 1 in 20 conclusion from the Guatemala data. John Cutler. (1952, October 29). Experimental Studies in 
Gonorrhea. Report. PCSBI HSPI Archives, CTLR 0001303. 
See, e.g., Arnold, R.C., Cutler, J.C., Wright, R.D., Levitan, S. (1952). Studies in penicillin treatment of 
syphilis - from 1943 to 1950. Public Health Reports 67(l):78-89; Cutler, J.C. (1972). Prophylaxis in the 
venereal diseases. Medical Clinics of North America 56(5): 1211-1216; and Cutler, J.C., Arnold, R.C. 
(1988). Venereal disease control by health departments in the past: Lessons for the present. American 
Journal of Public Health 78(4):372-376. As Dr. Cutler concluded in 1973, however: “[although both 
syphilis and gonorrhea are accepted as completely curable in the early stages, they are certainly never 
trivial, and rarely self-limiting. It is highly questionable whether it would be acceptable to deliberately 
expose volunteers to the risk of such infection. The required experimental circumstances, i.e. of deliberate 
sexual intercourse by volunteers with a person known to have active gonorrhea and/or infectious syphilis 
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