Risk Factors for AIDS Among Haitians Residing in the United States

Abstract

In a study of Haitians in Miami and New York, Creole-speaking interviewers questioned 55 patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (45 men and ten women) and 242 control-persons (164 men and 78 women). One male patient was homosexual, and one female patient had received blood within five years. No one admitted to intravenous drug use, hemophilia, or sexual contact with AIDS patients. Male AIDS patients were significantly more likely than control-men to have entered the United States after 1977 and to have had gonorrhea, syphilis, and sexual contact with female prostitutes. Female AIDS patients were more likely to have voodoo-priest friends and to have been offered money for sex. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome was probably contracted through sexual contact with infected heterosexuals. (JAMA1987;257:635-639)