Guatemalans subjected to US syphilis experiments in the 1940s filed suit Monday against federal health officials seeking compensation for health problems they have suffered.

The lawsuit comes after revelations that US scientists studying the effects of penicillin in the 1940s deliberately infected about 700 Guatemalan prisoners, mentally disturbed patients, soldiers, and orphans. None was informed or gave consent.

The experiments ran from 1946 to 1948 and were funded by the National Institutes of Health. Their existence was hidden for decades, until Wellesley College medical historian Susan Reverby uncovered the records in 2009.