Great British disease
From Katharine Ristich Sir: The statistics that Anthony Browne cites (1-low the government endangers British lives', 25 January) for HIV and tuberculosis among Britain's immigrant population are valid arguments for North American-style health checks for prospective immigrants. Pronouncements like, 'We live in fear of foreigners bringing death to our own land', however, reminded me of an article from the Daily Telegraph in 1997, headlined 'Russians "exporting syphilis" ' . Were visitors and immigrants from Russia to blame for the rise in Britain's syphilis rate? No, as it turned out. According to the article, 'British businessmen travelling in Russia and Poland are bringing back syphilis.'
A more recent Telegraph article in 2002, by Dr Richard Dawood, claimed that 'heterosexual sex abroad is the UK's leading source of new [HIV] infections', and not African immigration, as Browne seems to suggest. Given the increasing number of cheap flights available from the UK, and the licence for bad behaviour that so many Britons imagine they have when they leave their own country (cf. air rage, the increasing number of foreign municipalities calling for bans on British bachelor parties), one has to wonder if the Great British Tourist isn't the real reason why Britain is turning into a 'septic isle'.
Katharine Ristich
New York, USA
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