Subject: Letters to the Editor:  Dallas Ranks Low In AIDS Cases Tally
Date: Published: 1/15/88 42 lines
Source:  WALL STREET JOURNAL. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Letters to the Editor:  
    Dallas Ranks Low
    In AIDS Cases Tally

   I was surprised to find Dallas grouped with New York and
San Francisco to exemplify "high-AIDS-incidence cities" in
your Labor Letter of Dec. 29.  There were only two patients
with AIDS among 104 consecutive admissions to the internal
medicine service under my supervision at Parkland Memorial
Hospital during a recent two-month period.
   According to the Dec. 14 edition of the AIDS Weekly
Surveillance Report published by the Centers for Disease
Control, Dallas, with 1,019 reported cases of AIDS, not only
ranks far below New York (11,770 cases) and San Francisco
(4,416), but also has accumulated fewer cases than have Los
Angeles, Houston, Washington, Miami, Newark and Chicago.  When
the population of each standard metropolitan statistical area
is taken into account, Dallas (with 343 cases per million
 inhabitants) stands below not only San Francisco (1,359 cases
per million) and New York (1,291 cases per million) but also
Jersey City, Miami, Newark, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Los
Angeles, Washington, New Orleans, Atlanta and San Diego.
   We are proud to take good care of our patients with AIDS
and other manifestations of infection with human
immunodeficiency virus at Parkland Memorial Hospital and the
Dallas Veterans Administration Medical Center.  Nonetheless,
applicants to our training program in internal medicine soon
note that AIDS does not represent a disproportionate part of
the clinical experience in Dallas.
    William B. Baine M. D. 
   University of Texas
   Dallas

[This article is made available here by Dow Jones Co. for the 
personal and non-commercial use of callers to this bbs, in the 
hope that it will be of some help to those who are suffering 
from the disease and others who are seeking to help them.]