N.B.C. News, updated 10/1/2010 ~ 7:19:05 P.M. E.T. By Robert Bazell, chief science & health correspondent – U.S. apologizes for Guatemala S.T.D. experiments -- Government researchers infected patients with syphilis & gonorrhea without their consent in the 1940s. – U.S. government medical researchers intentionally infected hundreds of people in Guatemala, including institutionalized mental patients, with gonorrhea and syphilis without their knowledge or permission 60 years ago.  Many of those infected were encouraged to pass the infection onto others as part of the study. One third of those who were infected never got adequate treatment. On Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius offered extensive apologies for actions taken by the U.S. Public Health Service.