The combined number of people in Japan newly infected with the HIV virus and the number of new AIDS cases came to 1,124 in 2005, topping 1,000 for the second consecutive year, a health ministry panel said in a preliminary report.
The number of new HIV cases stood at a record 778 in 2005, compared with 748 the previous year, while the number of new AIDS cases fell to 346 from 366, the report says.
The number of people who received tests for HIV in 2005 reached 100,287, the largest figure in the past 10 years.
The combined number of new HIV and new AIDS cases topped 1,000 for the first time in 2004. The ministry started gathering the data in 1984.
Meanwhile, during the October-December period of last year, there were 195 new HIV cases and 89 new AIDS cases. Both are preliminary figures.