Reporting AIDS in New York City

To the Editor.  —The article on completeness of AIDS case reporting in New York City suggests a low incidence of heterosexually acquired AIDS among men in that city.¹ We reviewed the AIDS Public Information Data Set, June 1992, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for heterosexual contact cases by gender, metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs), and region. Heterosexual contact cases are defined by the CDC as persons with AIDS who report no history of male homosexual contact, intravenous drug abuse, or hemophilia, and either report specific heterosexual contact with a person with or at increased risk for HIV infection, or were born in specific areas of the Caribbean or central Africa where heterosexual transmission is a major route of HIV transmission.² There were far fewer male heterosexual cases in New York City than elsewhere in the United States (Table). New York City reported 40513 (18%) of