Tuskegee Study

* The article “Blood Brothers and Sisters” by Karen Grigsby Bates (Commentary, Feb. 23) effectively addressed the serious lack of blood donors among African Americans. Dispelling the myths surrounding Dr. Charles Drew’s death will hopefully contribute to an increased willingness among African Americans to donate blood and organs. However, while Ms. Bates cited the infamous Tuskegee Study as a likely additional explanation as to why blacks are less willing to participate in such programs, her statement that “black men . . . were surreptitiously injected with live syphilis virus so that the Army could study the disease” contains several factual errors.

In the Tuskegee Study, conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service--not the Army--black men with syphilis were left untreated, beginning in the 1930s and continuing over a period of up to 40 years, in order to observe the “natural” course of the disease. Although clearly immoral and ethically repugnant (particularly after penicillin became widely available in the 1940s), the study did not involve the injection of live syphilis into anyone.

Finally, syphilis is not a virus; it is caused by a spirochete, a form of bacteria, which is why, unlike viruses, it is treatable with antibiotics. It would be most unfortunate if in so cogently deflating one myth the author inadvertently contributed to creation of another.

JOSEPH COURTNEY

Los Angeles