A new report shows that black Brooklyn and city residents are more likely to die of AIDS than those of other ethnicities.

Health officials are alarmed that although blacks make up only 25 percent of the city's population, they account for 50 percent of all AIDS fatalities. The NYC Health Department report shows one in five black men between the age of 40 and 49 years old has HIV or AIDS. It also says heterosexual sex has now replaced drug use as the most common means of transmission of the virus to women.

The city?s health commissioner says there needs to be better ways to combat the disease. He says there should be changes in state law to allow health workers to test people for HIV and AIDS more aggressively. And, he says health department workers should be allowed to use the information the city already collects to reach out directly to patients and their doctors to help in treatment.

Related link: NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene