Alarmed by a rapid surge in people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus, health officials and experts say warnings about the importance of prevention are no longer being heard.
A health ministry commission monitoring HIV developments has recently unveiled that 184 people were found to be infected with the virus between July and September, registering the highest number on record in terms of a monthly average.
During the three-month period covered by the latest report, 100 new AIDS cases were confirmed and eight people were confirmed to have died, bringing the total number of AIDS deaths in Japan to 1,278 since the disease first surfaced in 1985.