“The infant-mortality rate in Brownsville surged dramatically in 2006, jumping from 9.1 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2005 to 12.5 – eclipsing all other neighborhoods in the city, records show. The grim statistics, which also reveal a slight spike in HIV-related deaths in East New York and Canarsie, come as the city’s overall death rate fell to an all-time low.” The dramatic increases in heart disease occurred in Park Slope and Bay Ridge, but Bensonhurst, Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay have the large number of heart disease fatalities in the city.–NYDN