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Report linking Haitians to U.S. AIDS epidemic angers local Haitians

(Original publication: October 30, 2007)

News of a research study claiming to prove that the AIDS virus was spread to the United States from Haitian immigrants is causing upset in the local Haitian community.

The analysis, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports the notion that Haiti was a stepping stone for the virus, HIV, which hopped directly from the Caribbean nation to the U.S. The study shows that just one strain of the virus came to the U.S., leading to all the infections that occurred here.

The findings were based on a genetic analysis of blood samples taken in the early 1980s from Haitians who had recently come to Miami and were among the first people here diagnosed with AIDS. Researchers compared the samples to more than 100 others from different countries.

Bert Jean-Louis, a Spring Valley resident who was born in Haiti, was outraged when he heard about the study, which was released yesterday.

"Wow. They're coming back with this nonsense again?" Jean-Louis said this afternoon. "This is too insulting. I thought this thing was taken care of years ago, and they're going to bring this stupid story back up again?"