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Why We Know About the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
Whistleblower Peter Buxtun revealed the story
Syphilis is a bacterial infection that is easily spread, particularly through sexual contact. Throughout human history, there were very few treatment options for the disease, which starts with a painless sore but can eventually progress to causing widespread damage to its hosts’ eyes, brains, and hearts.
By 1947, penicillin had become a wonder drug for so many conditions and infections. It would prove to be extremely effective in the treatment of primary (early) syphilis. After 1947, penicillin became the first line of treatment for most syphilis patients.
However, there was one group of patients to whom it was never offered, even though they were technically already involved in a medical study of the disease: the Tuskegee syphilis study. All of the men enrolled in that study, which ran from 1932 to 1972, were Black. They were induced to participate with offers of free physical examinations, meals on the days of those examinations, some treatment for other small illnesses, and the promise that their burial expenses would be paid.
The study was designed only to observe the effects of syphilis on the body. Even after penicillin was available, nobody involved with the study seemed to question why it was not…
