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Guatemala: US syphilis experiments exposed 2,082

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GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — A Guatemala investigation of a 1940s U.S. experiment that intentionally infected people in the Central American nation with sexually transmitted diseases says the number of victims is higher than previously thought.

The report says 2,082 people were infected with syphilis, gonorrhea or chancroid. Previous studies said about 1,300 people were exposed, including soldiers, prostitutes, prisoners and mental patients.

President Alvaro Colom said Wednesday he is looking at ways the U.S. government can compensate six survivors who have been identified in Guatemala. Authorities have not disclosed information on them.

The Guatemalan experiments ran from 1946 to 1948. What is now the U.S. government's National Institutes of Health financed them.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)