To the Editor:

I applaud the Saturday, Feb. 22 New York Times editorial
advocating federal funds for clean needles. In honor of Black
History month, it is important to fill in the part of the story
that has to do with race and ethnicity. The death and suffering
from the injection-related AIDS epidemic is falling mainly on
African Americans and Latinos. Over 70 percent of all
injection-related AIDS cases have occurred among African
Americans and Latinos, although those groups together represent
about 22 percent of the American population.

Drug-related AIDS is not a trivial part of the AIDS epidemic.
Although AIDS was first recognized as a disease among gay men,
its spread among persons who inject drugs has been rapid. By the
end of June 1996, 193,000 thousand Americans were living with
injection-related AIDS or had already died from it.

In failing to fund clean needle programs the federal government
is letting a disease vector that now accounts for half of the
AIDS epidemic get even further out of control. (The estimate that
half of all new HIV cases are injection-related comes from Scot
Holmberg, American Journal of Public Health, May 1996, p.642.)

Sincerely,
Dawn Day

Director Dogwood Center
author of the report, HEALTH EMERGENCY 1997: THE SPREAD OF
DRUG-RELATED AIDS AMONG AFRICAN AMERICANS AND LATINOS