February 14, 2008

New HIV Infections in Japan Hit Record High

Japan’s number of new yearly HIV infections exceeded 1,000 for the first time in 2007, according to government data. Kyodo News/The Japan Times Online (search.japantimes.co.jp, 2/13) reports that the government’s AIDS Surveillance Committee found that there were 1,048 HIV cases reported in 2007.

2007 marked the fifth year in a row that a record number of HIV/AIDS cases was recorded.

“As the number of people getting [tested] rapidly increases, the number of HIV-positive [people] grows fast,” said Aikichi Iwamoto, chairman of the Surveillance Committee.

According to the data, 849 cases were the result of sexual contact among people of the same gender, while 367 people contracted HIV through heterosexual sex. Six people contracted the virus through injection-drug use.

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