Nutrition and the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Excerpt

To the editor: Although homosexual men accounted for most cases of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome early in the epidemic, the syndrome has now been seen in other high-risk groups (1). Recently, the syndrome has been reported in women, infants, male prisoners, and African immigrants, indicating that the syndrome is beginning to spread to susceptible persons in the larger population (1-3). Nutritional status markedly influences immunocompetence. Many Haitians who developed the syndrome were nutritionally deficient (2); defective immunocompetence secondary to nutritional deficiency may help explain the syndrome's occurrence in Haitians who do not fit into other high-risk categories. For instance, Pneumocystis