Changes

In the early 20th century, other clinics and physicians had studied syphilis treatment options. Like mercurial ointments, some treatment options were of little value, while arsenic treatment seemed to offer some relief to some syphilitic patients. Additionally, these options were only for early syphilis symptoms like inflammation. They didn’t cure syphilis, nor did they prevent some of the maladies associated with latent syphilis—like insanity, cardiovascular disease, and death. If scientists could watch syphilis as it progressed untreated, they might be able to learn from it.  Furthermore, doctors in the USPHS wondered whether syphilis ran its course differently in whites than Blacks. While other scientists had not argued that these experiments should prevent the treatment of disease, “the doctors who devised and directed the Tuskegee Study accepted the mainstream assumptions regarding Blacks and venereal disease. The premise that Blacks, promiscuous, and lustful would not seek or continue treatment shaped the study. A test of untreated syphilis seemed ‘natural’ because the USPHS presumed the men would never be treated; the Tuskegee Study made that a self-fulfilling prophecy.”<ref>Brandt, p. 23.</ref>