In a preliminary report issued by a panel of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on 27th January 2006, it was announced that the combined number of people newly infected with the HIV virus and the number of patients who newly developed AIDS in Japan reached 1,124 in 2005.

This is the second consecutive year that the figures have topped 1,000. Data has been collected by the ministry since 1984.

In addition, the number of people who received tests for HIV in 2005 reached 100,287, the largest figure in the past 10 years, the report stated.

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.

The preliminary figures show that during the three months from October 2005, the number of newly infected people was 195, while the number of new AIDS patients was 89. Eighty-five percent were male in both groups, with the majority of the infections through sexual contact between males.

Testing services

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.