Jon Van`s article on AIDS in the ”Tomorrow” section (”This alarm isn`t false: AIDS can threaten all,” Nov. 1) opens with the sort of exaggerated, inaccurate statement we must avoid when addressing the AIDS issue.
Van states that AIDS ”is emerging as the most devastating health threat to face the United States this century.”
While AIDS is a serious concern, it is certainly not the greatest health threat to face the U.S. this century. For instance, the influenza epidemic of 1918-19 claimed 500,000 lives in the U.S., three times the projected death total for AIDS over a five-year period in the latest Public Health Service report.
This might seem like splitting hairs to some, but I feel that hysteria and misunderstanding about AIDS is also a danger, and there is no need to warp the realities around what is already a frightening situation.
