Japan: new HIV infections increasingly resistant to drugs
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New HIV infections in Japan are increasingly resistant to treatments,
according to doctors.
Nearly one fifth of all patients newly diagnosed with HIV at Nagoya
National Hospital were infected with a version of the virus that was
already resistant to at least one form of medication, experts have
told Tokyo's Daily Yomirui.
The fear is that this resistant strain will now make its way through-
out the country, and onwards to an international level.
Doctors across the country are now calling for the increased use of
testing to decipher which new infections are drug resistant. It is
hoped this will cut the time that patients have to wait until they
find a treatment that works well for them.
There are around 8,000 HIV positive people in Japan, with more than a
quarter of these already progressing to an AIDS status.
Internationally, fears are growing over the increase in drug resis-
tance. In Europe, one in ten of new infections during 2001 and 2002
were resistant to at least one type of medication, a 3% increase on
the previous two year period.
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