In having Marisa Micallef’s photo-image impishly mocking us (TMID, 15 January) in her opinion entitled “Bird flu or AIDS?”, I feel there is more than a smack of sensationalism!

Where one expects to find constructive criticism there is nothing but scaremongering of the worst kind, supplemented with a good dose of xenophobia.

I find myself asking why does Ms Micallef indulge in a potential rabble-rousing exercise when she surely must know that the main source and routes of sexually transmitted diseases are not people coming from African countries as she wrongly asserted.

Quoting Ms Micallef:- “Once infection starts taking hold in the general population there will be little that can be done to stop it. Just sitting back and allowing the infection of the general population to start is negligence of the grossest kind”.

With such a brazen statement, Ms Micallef is doing the gravest disservice to the Maltese public by abusing her freedom of expression. Maybe earning a reputation and outdoing fellow contributors is all that matters to Ms Micallef and shocking readers out of their senses is the shortest cut to achieve this aim.

Once again quoting Ms Micallef – “All the recognised and legal residents of Malta demand more responsible behaviour” from regular contributors in the press on such sensitive issues unless we want our newspapers to churn out pure unadulterated swill as some foreign tabloids do much to the relish of readers with the basest of instincts.

Dr Mario Spiteri

Director

Health Promotion Department