REVIEW: Untreated Syphilis in the Male Negro

 Today's review is on the TUSKEGEE EXPERIMENT, specifically the first paper published and the paper published in 1964, which I think is the last one. So, let's start with some history.

 Africans were sold to the colonies as slaves and became the backbone of labor in much of the country especially the South.

After many years, the slaves were no longer Africans, but were now known as the blacks (I don't know when African-American came into vogue, but it would be interesting to know) or more derogatory names. The Civil War freed the slaves and later legislation made them equals in the eyes of the law. Well, when the slaves were freed, they were still poor and had no choice, but to stay in the areas they were formerly enslaved. Since poverty is not something easily escaped, even in the land of Horatio Alger, the children and children's children of former slaves remained poor. Most poor people don't have access to the best or even adequate medical treatments, so they go their lives with debilitating diseases, one of which was syphilis. Some surveys of rural communities in Alabama found that blacks had high levels of untreated syphilis.

 Here is where the researchers come in, in their own words they wanted to "study the untreated syphilitic patient from the beginning of the disease to the death of the infected person." Their study started by doing the following serological tests on 1,782 black men:

Treponema pallidum, bad ass.

Kolmer complete fixation- Serum from possibly syphilitic individuals is mixed with sheep blood cells and extracts or emulsions of Treponema pallidum. If the sheep blood cells lyse, then there must not be antibodies in the possibly syphilitic serum, meaning not syphilis. If there is no lysis, then the person has antibodies against syphilis and has syphilis. I think I got this right, so be aware that this could be incorrect.

Kahn flocculation- Serum from possibly syphilitic individuals was added to extracts of T. pallidum prepared from beef hearts. The extract and the serum are mixed and a precipitate should form is the individual is syphilitic. If no precipitate, then no syphilis. Remember, I could be wrong on this because I am not an expert in this field.

Run DMC never had syphilis.

 Of the 1,782 black dudes tested, 472 gave two positive tests for syphilis and of those, only 399 were used in the study, I will call them the UNTREATED. Of the 1,258 black guys who did not test positive for syphilis, 201 were used as non-syphilitic controls, I will call them the FREE AND CLEAR. The researchers also included a group of 275 black men who had syphilis, but received treatment early on and no longer had the disease, I will call them the TREATED. 

 You may already have a big question on your mind and I think we need to address it now: why did they only use black dudes? Was it racism? A lot of people answer yes, but from the paper alone you could not guess it. I think the researchers took advantage of a situation that emerged from racism, but if they were racist in choosing their subjects is a different matter. Does this research offer any scientific merit? Charles McDonald M.D. says it best "...this study has contributed and can continue to contribute a great deal to our knowledge of syphilology." He also says that this experiment contributed most by forcing us to "...rethink and redefine our present day positions and practices as they relate to human experimentation."

 So, the patients were identified in 1932 and the first paper came out in 1936. By 1964,  the researchers provided strong evidence for some features of the disease that were previously suggested such as cardiovascular problems in UNTREATED. They were also able to show syphilis in the central nervous system in UNTREATED, which was not believed to occur in blacks at that time. Their work showed that any amount of treatment was better than nothing as many UNTREATED received injections of arsenic or mercuric outside of the study. These injections lead to longer life and, in some case, negative results from serological tests. Curiously, nothing is mentioned about the TREATED.

Isaiah Bradley, the black Captain America.

  A similar incident of the government doing experimental testing on black men, occurred in the then controversial Captain America: Red, White, and Black. In it, Isaiah Bradley was tested using a concoction that attempted to reproduce the Super-Soldier Serum that went into Captain America. Later on, his grandson, Elijah, would receive a blood transfusion and become the black super soldier. This comes after being shot while protecting his half Skrull/half Kree friend.

Elijah Bradley, Patriot.