From Drug Arrest to AIDS Nightmare

NEW YORK — It has grown from a simple arrest for allegedly selling $20 worth of crack cocaine into one of the largest public health investigations in this city’s history.

The medical detective work is proceeding on wisps of information--a first name, an age, a sketchy physical description, an inexact location.

In New York alone, up to 50 investigators are trying to retrace the path of Nushawn J. Williams, accused of spreading the AIDS virus to scores of victims.

Silent, handcuffed and surrounded by guards, Williams made his first public appearance Monday during a hearing on the drug possession charges against him. He was ordered to undergo a comprehensive psychiatric examination after an initial diagnosis of schizophrenia.

The proceedings in state Supreme Court in the Bronx took less than a minute. But authorities, appealing for help, said it may be weeks until the full dimensions of the mini-epidemic Williams is suspected of starting are known.

“We are seeking to determine who may have been victimized,” said Bronx Dist. Atty. Robert T. Johnson, who appealed to the public for information.

Johnson announced his office is pursuing an allegation that Williams knowingly infected a 15-year-old girl in the Bronx.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said that during two interviews with epidemiologists, Williams indicated he had had sex with 50 to 75 people in New York City.

“He provided us with the names and some sketchy information on the identities of 19 people,” said Frederic D. Winters, the health department spokesman. “In addition, eight others have called our AIDS hotline identifying themselves as sexual contacts of his. Another five came into clinics.”

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Investigators also have begun to receive reports of secondary contacts with some of Williams’ initial partners.

Williams, whose 21st birthday was Saturday, tested positive for HIV in September 1996. He continued to have sex until he was arrested Sept. 22 on charges of selling cocaine to undercover police officers conducting a sting operation against street dealers. Officials said Williams knew he was infected with the virus but withheld the information from his partners.

Prosecutors in Chautauqua County in upstate New York, where Williams lived before returning to the city, have charged him with the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. On Monday, Chautauqua County health officials said at least 28 people have been identified as partners of Williams’, and nine have tested positive for HIV.

In Jamestown, N.Y., and nearby communities, more than 600 people have undergone HIV testing since health officials disclosed last week that Williams carries the virus.

“There are all kinds of emotions--fear, anger, surprise,” said Patricia Allenson, director of patient services at the Chautauqua County Health Department. “This is going to be a long process. . . . The concern is, what should the community and parents do? There are a lot of parenting issues.”

In New York City, where health investigators were trying to determine whether Williams had a history of intravenous drug use, the task of tracking down his possible sexual partners was, in some cases, extremely difficult.

In neighborhoods where Williams was known to have resided, investigators contacted community groups and clinics.

But officials admitted that some of the information that epidemiologists have received about Williams’ possible partners is very sketchy. In some instances, investigators have knocked on doors, to no avail.

“We have a very large outreach effort to identify as many people as possible,” Winters said. “We are not aware of any case in recent memory that is this extensive.”