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No. of new HIV, AIDS cases tops 1,000 for 2nd yr in row+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, Jan. 27_(Kyodo) _ The combined number of people newly infected with the HIV virus and the number of patients who newly developed AIDS in Japan came to 1,124 in 2005, topping 1,000 for the second consecutive year, a health ministry panel said in a preliminary report Friday. The number of people known to be newly infected with the virus stood at a record 778 in 2005, compared with 748 the previous year, while the number of new AIDS patients fell to 346 from 366. The number of people who received tests for HIV in 2005 reached 100,287, the largest figure in the past 10 years, it said. The combined number of people newly infected with the virus and new AIDS patients topped 1,000 in the previous year for the first time since the ministry started gathering the data in 1984. Meanwhile, during the three months from October 2005, the number of newly infected people was 195, while the number of new AIDS patients was 89, both preliminary figures. According to the panel, 85 percent were male for both the HIV-infected people and the AIDS patients, adding that the majority of the infections were through sexual contact between males. The trend was similar in annual figures, the panel said. The health ministry called for the public to undergo checkups as early as possible if HIV infection is suspected, while urging local governments to introduce a system to enable people to know the results of a test on the same day, and to enable people to receive tests at nights or on holidays. |