Reported HIV cases in Japan have doubled in a decade: U.N.

SEX BETWEEN MEN BLAMED FOR MOST INFECTIONS
Reported HIV cases in Japan have doubled in a decade: U.N.

NEW YORK (Kyodo) The number of annual HIV cases reported in Japan more than doubled to 780 in 2004 from the number reported for 1994 to 1995, according to a report released Monday by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS and the World Health Organization.

A section of the 90-page report, which says that more than 40 million people around the world have HIV, was devoted to detailing how AIDS has spread in Japan over the past 10 years.

"Much of this trend is due to increasing infections among men who have sex with men," the report says, noting that in Japan, sex between men accounted for 60 percent of the new HIV cases in 2004.

The report adds that about a third of the cases in Japan in 2004 occurred among people under age 30, pointing to an increase in sexual activities and unsafe sex among younger men and women.

Globally, some 40.3 million people were living with HIV, soaring from 37.5 million in 2003, with notably rapid increases in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and East Asia, according to the AIDS Epidemic Update 2005 report.

In East Asia, the number of people living with HIV in 2005 rose 26 percent to 870,000, compared with two years earlier.

In South and Southeast Asia, some 7.4 million were infected in 2005, up from 6.5 million in 2003.

Although results of the study show that national infection levels in Asia are low compared with other continents, particularly Africa, concerns about its spread are growing due to high population concentrations in the region.

"The populations of many Asian nations are so large that even low national HIV prevalence means large numbers of people are living with HIV," the report says.

The latest estimates show some 8.3 million Asians were living with HIV in 2005.

The Japan Times: Nov. 23, 2005