It turns out that people in Guatemala do not eat guinea pigs on the street, but they were used as guinea pigs in the 1940s by the US Government.

The US really needed some human subjects to observe the effects of syphilis on the human body so they injected sex workers in Guatemala with syphilis and then sent them into the local jails to help spread syphilis to the prisoners.  The sex workers were injected with syphilis without their knowledge or consent, and the prisoners only knew that someone had opened the door and let the sexy times roll.

If this sounds familiar, you're thinking of the Tuskegee Experiment and for good reason - Dr. John Cutler was involved in both human experiments.  After Tuskegee was made public in the 1970s, no one thought to say "oh yeah, and in Guatemala we also injected people with syphilis."  It wasn't until 2005 that someone discovered the study and went public with it.

Come with us down the rabbit hole that is syphilis - what is it, what are its effects, and most importantly, who is to blame for it!

Gentle Listeners, kindly Note: Our title is NOT taken from Urban Dictionary and do not look it up.