Some countries have not been hit as hard. That's great. Vigilance is
important tho as that situation can change.

George M. Carter

**
Japan's AIDS experts alarmed as HIV infections hit record high

Agence France-Presse - January 27, 2005
Shino Yuasa
English: http://www.aegis.org/news/afp/2005/AF050191.html 
French: http://www.aegis.org/news/afp/2005/AF050191_FR.html

TOKYO, Jan 27 (AFP) - The number of Japanese people who were infected
with HIV or developed AIDS topped 1,000 for the first time in 2004,
officials said Thursday, voicing concern the virus could be spreading
more quickly due to a lack of awareness.

New HIV infections in 2004 jumped 17 percent year-on-year to 748, the
highest figure since Japan registered its first AIDS patient in 1985
although still low by global standards, a health ministry survey
showed.

The number of HIV patients who developed AIDS last year also hit a
record high of 366, up 8.9 percent from a year earlier, it said.

The new infections bring to 6,528 the number of people in Japan who
have tested positive for HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, with 3,258
of them living with AIDS.

But health ministry official Masanori Suzuki said the government
estimated the true figure of HIV-positive Japanese was around 14,000
as many people never came in for diagnosis.

"It is very alarming. We must launch more aggressive and vigorous
campaigns to make people aware of AIDS issues," Suzuki said of the
2004 figures.

"Since AIDS has a long latency period, people just don't realize their
HIV infection. Early detection is a key to effective AIDS prevention,"
he said.

Of the 748 newly infected people, men accounted for 90 percent and
over 60 percent of them were infected through gay sex, the survey
said.

"The number of infected people is rising too fast. We are particularly
alarmed by the indifference among young people toward AIDS. We really
need to educate them," said Yorimasa Nagai, director of Japanese
Foundation for AIDS Prevention.

Japan offers free and anonymous AIDS tests at public health care
centers and Nagai said the foundation and the government must urge
more people to take the examinations.

But despite the alarm, the AIDS epidemic is far lower in Japan than in
most parts of the world. The United States, with about twice Japan's
population, has seen an average of 40,000 HIV infections annually over
the past 10 years, according to the UN AIDS body.

Japan is also out of global norms in that gay men dominate the new
infections, with heterosexuals making up most new cases in other parts
of the developed world.

Activists warn that the relatively low HIV rate has led Japanese
people to be unconcerned about using condoms and taking other
preventive measures, meaning that the country is vulnerable to a
sudden rise in HIV infections.

According to health ministry data, domestic sales of condoms have sunk
43 percent from the peak in 1980 of 737 million to 419 million in
2003.

Other parts of Asia have far larger populations with HIV, with both
unprotected sex and needle use attributed as causes.

China estimates some 840,000 people were infected with HIV in 2003,
but international AIDS experts say the actual number is much higher.

India had an estimated 5.1 million people infected with HIV in 2003,
more than any other country except South Africa.

050127
AF050191

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