US University sued over sexually transmitted diseases experiments

More than 750 plaintiffs are suing Johns Hopkins University over its role in a series of medical experiments in Guatemala in the 1940s and 1950s during which subjects were deliberately infected with syphilis, gonorrhoea and other infections as part of study into sexually transmitted diseases (STD) without their consent.

The lawsuit in Baltimore seeks $1bn in damages for individuals, spouses and children of people infected through a US government study between 1945 and 1956.

The suit claims officials at Johns Hopkins had “substantial influence” over the studies by controlling some panels that advised the federal government on how to spend research dollars.