Blood donors who tested positive for HIV numbered a record 102 in 2007, surpassing 100 for the first time since the HIV antibody test for blood donors began in 1986, according to a Japanese Red Cross Society report Wednesday.
The society's preliminary data found the number of blood donors per 100,000 with HIV also marked a record high of 2.06 in 2007. Meanwhile, the number of total donors recorded its lowest level of 4.94 million in 2007.
Because the tests are only designed to prevent the virus from spreading through donated blood products, the society does not inform donors of the results.
However, a health ministry official said an increasing number of people are donating blood as a free and easy way of getting an HIV test, unaware they will not get the results.
"To prevent the possibility of the virus from spreading, the ministry is urging the public to refrain from blood donation for such purposes," the official said, adding that people should get HIV tests at public health centers or at medical institutions.
The 102 included six people who tested negative for the virus in the society's ordinary blood antibody tests, but ended up being diagnosed as HIV-positive in the society's more highly sensitive virus test.
The number of HIV-positive donors in 2007 was up 15 from the preceding year.