Seventy-nine of some 5,770,000 blood donations last year in Japan were from HIV-positive donors, making the rate of positive donors the highest ever at 1.368 per 100,000, according to a survey by the health ministry's special committee on AIDS.

While blood donations have declined, the ratio of HIV-positive donors has almost quadrupled from 10 years ago, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Thursday.

The number of patients newly infected with HIV was also the highest ever last year, with a preliminary figure of 614 new cases reported, up 33 percent from the previous year, the ministry said.

The number of those who underwent HIV tests at public health care centers stood at some 70,000, compared with about 49,000 in 2000, it said.

The ministry attributed the rise partly to a newly introduced system under which people can be screened for hepatitis while also being tested for the HIV virus.

The ministry also said it acknowledged 79 newly reported AIDS patients and 179 HIV carriers in the October-December period last year.

Nine AIDS patients died during the period, raising the total number of domestic AIDS-related deaths to 1,248, it said.

The causes of infection included sexual intercourse as well as needle use and blood transfusions, it said.

The ministry also received a report that a relative of a hemophilic patient had apparently been infected after being pricked by a syringe of infected blood.