A total of over 10,000 HIV carriers have been confirmed throughout Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has announced.

According to the ministry’s AIDS surveillance committee, a record number of 294 HIV-infected individuals were newly confirmed from July to September, which was the largest figure ever on a quarter-on-quarter basis. The total number of HIV-positive patients — excluding HIV-tainted blood product victims — surpassed 10,247 (8,305 men and 1,942 women).

The number of HIV sufferers reached 5,000 in the 17 years since the first infection was discovered in Japan in 1985. In the five years and nine months from January 2003, the figure grew a further 5,107.

“Although the HIV-infection rate is apparently stagnant in other advanced countries, it has been increasing rapidly in Japan,” the ministry says, citing the necessity for raising people’s awareness about the situation.

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Here is the Global Health Report in Japan.