Some Haitian Americans are saying that a recent study, which asserted that HIV emerged from Haiti, stigmatizes Haitians, and that it should undergo an independent review (sun-sentinel.com, 12/1).
The study, by Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona, is based on an analysis of 25-year-old blood samples from three Haitian patients in South Florida. It suggests that after emerging in Haiti in the 1960s, HIV spread to the United States shortly afterward.
Sun-Sentinel reports that some activists are worried that the new study could signal a return to the discrimination many Haitians faced in the early 1980s. Haitians were said to be at an increased risk for HIV and banned from donating blood.
The “four H club”: hemophilia, homosexuality, heroin use and being Haitian was used to refer to risk factors for HIV.
“Haitians historically have been used as scapegoats,” said Marleine Bastien, a Haitian-American activist.
Haitian activists and health care workers are asking scientists to take another look at Worobey’s data, and also determine if the team was authorized to use the three blood samples in the study.
Queenie
