Drug-resistant HIV infections are on the rise in Japan, according to Setsuko Ida of the International Medical Center of Japan. Ida's findings will be presented at the conference of the Japanese Association for Infectious Diseases, which begins Thursday in Fukuoka.

Ida surveyed 205 people who had never been treated for the disease until they visited the center in 2001-2002 and tested HIV-positive. Of those surveyed, eight were found to be infected with the drug-resistant strain. Drug-resistant HIV is believed to have developed in patients who have discontinued medical treatment for the virus and in those unable to suppress it with existing medicines.

Ida found two people with drug-resistant HIV who were believed to have been infected several months before the study began. In all, 22 people were likely infected a few months before the research. "The more recently patients were infected with HIV, the higher probability they have of being infected with drug-resistant HIV. We should pay close attention to the trend," Ida said.

In Japan, little research has been conducted on drug-resistant HIV; the center's study is the first of its type to provide specific data.

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