Between April and June, 270 people in Japan became infected with HIV, setting a record quarterly high. New AIDS patients meanwhile numbered 110, the second-highest figure on a quarterly basis, a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry panel said in a report Tuesday.
The previous quarterly record for new HIV infections was 248 in the April-June period of last year.
Aikichi Iwamoto, chairman of the AIDS trend committee, said the increased HIV infections stemmed partly from a sharp increase in HIV checkups, 37,143 nationwide in the April-June quarter this year. However, Iwamoto, a professor at the University of Tokyo, warned that new infections are probably on the rise because the number of HIV-positive patients was increasing even during periods in which the number of checkups declined.