WORLD IN BRIEF : ASIA : Skyrocketing Rates of AIDS Predicted

Skyrocketing infection rates make Asia the “sleeping giant” of AIDS, and the ailment threatens to strangle India, Thailand and the Philippines, a congressional medical expert reported. “I think it is not unreasonable to suggest that there will be more (AIDS)-infected people in India alone in the year 2000 than in the world today,” said Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), a physician who completed a fact-finding mission to the three countries two months ago. The World Health Organization estimates that 8 million to 10 million people worldwide are infected with the AIDS virus.