Hepatitis : During the 1940s the cause , method of communication and treatment of infectious hepatitis was not well understood . Experimentation began with COs working at psychiatric hospitals and was expanded to a major research project with 30 to 60 test subjects at the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University . The men were inoculated with infected blood plasma , swallowed nose and throat washings and the human body wastes of infected patients , and drank contaminated water .