Abstract
To the Editor.— Koenig et al 1 recently described the epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the Dominican Republic. In that report, among the 1656 native Dominicans who were screened, 88 (5%) had HIV antibodies; however, of 259 Haitians residing in the Dominican Republic who were screened, 25 (10%) were seropositive. If 42 of the former group who were ill with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or AIDS-related syndromes are excluded, the rate within healthy Dominicans drops to 3%. The Table describes further the distribution of HIV antibodies as well as the seroprevalence rate of hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers in both the Dominican Republic and Haiti (W. R. Lange, E. J. Cone, J. H. Jaffe, writtencommunication, March 1987). 1-5 The magnitude of disease penetration appears to be comparable in both countries, according to the overall prevalence of HBV markers (65%). However, in the presence of similar rates
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